Indiana ranks fourth in the nation for its concentration of jobs in advanced industries. The high-growth industries employ more than 11 percent of the state’s workforce, according to a study released this month by the Brookings Institution.
“The Brookings Institution’s data reinforces what we’re witnessing across the state,” said Victor Smith, Indiana Secretary of Commerce. “Companies from around the world are bringing everything from software design operations to high-tech aerospace manufacturing to the Hoosier State. They are picking Indiana because our business environment helps keep operating costs down, in turn creating excellent jobs for Hoosiers that are on the rise today.”
Advanced industries are classified as business sectors that invest heavily in technology-based research and development and employ a large concentration of workers in science, technology, engineering and mathematics (STEM)-related positions. It includes 50 categories in fields ranging from automobile manufacturing to life sciences.
The study, America’s Advanced Industries: Why They Are, Where They Are and Why They Matter, reports that 344,400 Hoosiers, or 11.4 percent of the state’s workforce, were employed in advanced industries in 2013. Indiana is one of only two states in the Midwest and seven states nationally with a share of advanced industry employment exceeding 10 percent.
"Our research makes clear that Indiana is no longer just a manufacturing province; the state's metropolitan economies are increasingly diversified, with material, digital and genomic specializations all at once," said Mark Muro, a senior fellow at the Brookings Institution and the lead author of the new research.
Out of 100 U.S. metropolitan areas researched as part of the study, the Indianapolis area ranked 11th in the nation for its share of advanced industry output, measuring at 24.6 percent of the area’s total output. This amounts to $25.2 billion in advanced industry output in 2013, with leading industries including pharmaceuticals, computer systems design, architecture and engineering. The average advanced industry worker in the Indianapolis area in 2013 earned $87,530 a year in total compensation.
Advanced industries are leading the nation’s post-recession recovery, creating 65 percent of all new jobs nationally. According to the study, the industries employ 80 percent of the nation’s engineers, perform 90 percent of private-sector research and development and generate 85 percent of all U.S. patents. Average earnings in the industry are rising almost five times faster than earnings in the overall economy.