Geoscience Reference
In-Depth Information
Table 18.2
Financial services—megalopolis metropolitan areas by employment, 2004
Metropolitan area
(national rank in
employment)
Share of
national
employment
CAGR of
employment
1990-2004
CAGR of
average wages
1990-2004
Total
employment
Average
wages
New York-Northern New
Jersey-Long Island (1)
427,296
13.0
0.44
$168,802 7.66
Boston-Cambridge-
Quincy (4)
133,342
4.0
3.48
$114,696 7.83
Philadelphia-Camden-
Wilmington (5)
113,112
3.4
2.21
$73,158
6.12
Hartford-West Hartford-
East
Hartford (9)
65,219
2.0
1.38
$86,851
6.52
Washington, DC (12)
58,098
1.8
1.99
$76,880
5.64
(Table
18.2
). The Boston metro area has the fourth largest employment, third
highest average wage, and the second highest wage growth rate (1990-2004)
among US metros in the Financial sector in 2004. In Massachusetts, this sector
accounts for 10.8 % of the Gross state Product, 5.5 % of employment, with 65 % of
the workers with a post-secondary degree, and has a significant multiplier effect on
Professional and Technical services. The annual growth rate of average wage in this
sector over a 15 year period was in Boston (at 7.83 %), with other Megalopolis
metros not far behind. The magnitude and importance of the Financial Services
sector in the Boston Region are not surprising given its past history of merchant and
industrial capital in earlier times and its many
financial innovations
(e.g. Merchant
banking, marine insurance, 'Suffolk Bank' notes, Venture capital, Trust Bank,
Mutual funds, etc.).
8
The Megalopolis metro areas of Philadelphia, Hartford, and
Washington, DC draw respectively 5th, 9th, and 12th national ranks in employment
levels in this sector.
The Health Services Sector is a larger sector in the Boston Region, about 2.5
times as large as the Financial Sector in employment. Table
18.3
offers an employ-
ment comparison of the Megalopolis metro areas in 2004. With many major
university hospitals and research institutes, the Boston Region is not only the fifth
largest national employer, but has registered a 4 % annual rate of growth over a
recent 15 year period. The elite hospitals and public research institutes in this region
also provide a key component of the biotechnology innovation networks.
Higher education plays a major role in the Boston Region than in most others. In
2000, Boston metro ranked first in college and university enrollment, first in
degrees granted, and in per capita spending, per 100,000 people. The eight
universities in the metro area, attracting research funds, partnering with firms,
8
The “Suffolk system” was developed in Boston by the Suffolk Bank before the Civil War (by the
investors who founded the textile industry). This bank issued its own notes which were redeemable
at par along with those issued by any New England bank, provided those banks maintained
deposits at the Suffolk Bank—thus rapidly expanding industrial capital in New England.
