Geoscience Reference
In-Depth Information
Table 18.1
Knowledge intensive services, 1997 and 2007
1997
2007
Number of
employees (%
a
)
Average wage (2007
US dollars)
Number of
employees (%
a
)
Average wage (2007
US dollars)
New York
381,722 (4.06)
70,141
478,409 (4.37)
82,363
Philadelphia 137,730 (4.50)
66,167
142,742 (4.11)
71,689
Boston
106,292 (3.78)
74,977
163,071 (4.60)
87,860
D.C.
241,800 (7.85)
69,414
374,383 (9.73)
84,319
Baltimore
49,021 (3.41)
57,911
80,521 (4.75)
76,012
Megalopolis 1,091,625 (4.15)
67,921
1,441,850 (4.73)
80,641
U.S.
4,092,136 (2.65)
57,436
5,696,838 (3.17)
64,675
Source
: 1997 and 2007 Economic Census, US Census Bureau
a
% of total regional/national employees in the specified sector
KIBS sectors play a crucial role in the operation of the global economy and in the
facilitation of American economy's structural evolution.
This brief review of the development of knowledge-intensive business services
and their role in the generation and evolution of knowledge-intensive components
of the US service economy supplements the review (in the earlier section) of
various models which attempt to explain the rise and evolution of knowledge-
intensive production sectors.
The levels of employment and average wages in KIBS sectors in 1997 and 2007
in the nation, Megalopolis, and its five major metros are presented in Table
18.1
.
While the Megalopolis had 17 % of the national employment in 1997 and 2005
(Fig.
18.5
), it was over represented in employment in those years in the knowledge-
intensive KIBS sectors, garnering respectively 26.7 and 25.3 % of the national
totals (Table
18.1
.). Further, the average wage/worker is higher in the Megalopolis
and component metros in 1997—with this gap widening in 2007. As noted earlier,
these KIBS sectors support the arrival and evolution of Knowledge-intensive
Services.
18.4.3 The Rise and Evolution of Knowledge-Intensive Production
in Boston Metro Region
The initial boom in high technology industries in the Boston region was punctured
in the late 1980s by the decline of the Minicomputer industry and the fall-off in
military research budgets. High technology industries in the Boston Region have
been, however, able to readjust and rejuvenate their product and process structures
in order to sustain further innovation and growth, through a network model of
complementary, vertically-disintegrated, open system firms (Bathelt
1999
;Best
2000
). Further, Boston's revitalization is based on its technological diversification
rather than in an existing trajectory (Best
2000
), given its rich and diverse human
