State Touts High-Tech Industry Success
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As a subscriber you can listen to articles at work, in the car, or while you work out. Subscribe NowIndiana Secretary of Commerce Victor Smith says last week's Brookings Institution report “reinforces what we're witnessing” throughout the state. He says the study, which suggests more than 11 percent of the state's work force was employed in advanced industries in 2013, shows Indiana is no longer just a manufacturing power.
February 13, 2015
News Release
Indianapolis, Ind. — 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.
About IEDC
Created in 2005 to replace the former Department of Commerce, the Indiana Economic Development Corporation is governed by a 12-member board chaired by Governor Mike Pence. Victor Smith serves as the Indiana Secretary of Commerce and Eric Doden is the president of the IEDC.
The IEDC oversees programs enacted by the General Assembly including tax credits, workforce training grants and public infrastructure assistance. All tax credits are performance-based. Therefore, companies must first invest in Indiana through job creation or capital investment before incentives are paid. A company who does not meet its full projections only receives a percentage of the incentives proportional to its actual investment. For more information about IEDC, visit www.iedc.in.gov.
Source: Indiana Economic Development Corp.