Geoscience Reference
In-Depth Information
Table 18.3
Local health 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)
1,113,374
7.6
1.91
$42,631
3.64
Philadelphia-Camden-
Wilmington (4)
373,167
2.5
1.71
$38,436
3.17
Boston-Cambridge-
Quincy (5)
310,759
2.1
1.45
$42,180
3.95
Washington-Arlington-
Alexandria (9)
221,485
1.5
2.29
$43,770
3.35
Baltimore-Towson
(16)
150,055
1.0
1.86
$40,832
3.90
Source
: Prof. Michael E. Porter, Cluster Mapping Project, Institute for Strategy and Competitive-
ness, Harvard Business School; Richard Bryden, Project Direct
Boston Region's Reinvention
generating patents, starting companies, and training large numbers of students are
major regional economic contributors. The higher education also promotes regional
growth by transferring technological innovations to local firms.
The economic crisis of 2008-2009 had a negative impact in all sectors of
employment, but was especially severe in financial services. Overall, Boston's
recovery has been somewhat better than most. For example over the one-year
period leading up to April 2013, the Boston metropolitan employment grew by
1.9 vs. 1.6 % in the US. Boston's health care, education and information services all
grew at well above national levels, but the Finance services sector was a notable
underperformer, (0.1 vs. 1.3 % nationwide.)
9
This is consistent with a general trend
that is emerging for the recovery of financial employment to be greatest in second
tier cities outside the megalopolis (Kotkin
2013
). It is unclear, however, whether
this represents a general spatial shift or just the fact that lower-order financial
services have recovered faster.
The expanded review of the Boston's recent economic evolution in this paper
suggests a robust economic recovery and export capacity across a broad range of
knowledge-intensive goods and services. The five key determinants of the Boston
Region's reinvention as a vibrant knowledge economy are: (1) Large and Diverse
Human capital, (2) open Innovation Networks, (3) Local entrepreneurship,
(4) Financial Innovations and, (5) The development of Innovative Models of
Urban Governance to promote the rapid spatial reinvention of the Boston region
in order to facilitate the functioning of a globally connected knowledge metropolis.
9
Bureau of Labor Statistics press release “Boston Area Employment—April 2013” on May
30, 2013. Available at
http://www.bls.gov/ro1/cesbos.pdf
