Report: R.I. 17th in nation for advanced industry growth, highest in New England

RHODE ISLAND ranked 17th among the states for its 2.7 percent growth in advanced industries from 2013-2015, according to a report from the Brookings Institution. / COURTESY METROPOLITAN POLICY PROGRAM AT BROOKINGS
RHODE ISLAND ranked 17th among the states for its 2.7 percent growth in advanced industries from 2013-2015, according to a report from the Brookings Institution. / COURTESY METROPOLITAN POLICY PROGRAM AT BROOKINGS

PROVIDENCE – Rhode Island ranked 17th among states – and higher than any other New England state – for its 2.7 percent job growth over the last two years in advanced industries, according to a new report from the Brookings Institution released Thursday.
Rhode Island’s job growth in advanced industries also exceeded the average for the nation, which saw a 2.5 percent increase in employment in the sector from 2013-2015.
The report singles out specific advanced industries in the Ocean State that had high growth between 2013 and 2015, including computer systems design, ship and boat building, and R&D services.
Advanced industries in Rhode Island employed 40,091 in 2015, accounting for 8.1 percent of all jobs in the region. Those jobs also support an additional 32,070 indirect jobs in other industries in the region, the report said.
The report said advanced industries pay an average of $73,918 a year, compared with average annual pay of $51,424 for other industries. Rhode Island’s advanced industries also produce $5.9 billion in output in the region.
According to the report, advanced industries are defined as those that spend at least $450 per worker on R&D and employ at least 20 percent of their workforce in STEM-intensive occupations.

“Advanced industries encompass the nation’s ‘tech’ sector at its broadest and most consequential. They represent a sizable economic anchor for the U.S. economy and have led the post-recession employment recovery. Their competitiveness and growth are prerequisites for any future broadly shared prosperity. As such, the sector encompasses the country’s best shot at supporting innovative, inclusive and sustainable growth,” the report states.
In Rhode Island, computer-systems design – the largest advanced industry in the state – experienced 7 percent employment growth over the two-year period, to 6,570, while ship and boat building – the third largest – grew 12 percent, to 4,100. R&D services climbed 9.8 percent, to 940.
Mark Muro, senior fellow and policy director for the Metropolitan Policy Program at Brookings, wrote in an email that Rhode Island’s performance, fueled by boats-ships and digital, “suggests real strength in a number of important high-value, prosperity-building industries that have large multiplier value for the whole economy.”
The report also broke out data for the Providence-Warwick-Fall River metropolitan area, ranking it 42nd among the 100 largest metro areas for 56,579 advanced-industries jobs last year, an increase of 1.6 percent over the two-year period. In the Providence metro, ship and boat building jobs grew 6.5 percent from 2013 to 2015, to 3,591, while computer- systems-design employment increased 4.3 percent over that same time frame, to 6,579.

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