The Canton-Massillon metro area is among the 15 fastest-growing metro areas in the nation for jobs in high-tech industries, according to a study released Thursday.
The metro area — made up of Stark and Carroll counties — saw a 10.1 percent increase in the number of the jobs from 2010 to 2011. That was the 15th-largest increase in the country, according to a study commissioned by Engine Advocacy, a San Francisco group that says it “works to foster innovation and entrepreneurship” in the United States.
The Canton-Massillon region had 1,400 jobs in high tech industries in 2011, up 10.1 percent from the prior year, the study said.
Statewide, the number of the jobs grew by 4.6 percent over the 2010-2011 period; that compares with the national average of 2.6 percent.
Engine Advocacy, the nonprofit group, noted that Ohio is home to three of the top 25 metro areas for tech industry job growth — more than any other state. The Dayton region ranked third in the country for the job growth in tech industries, while the Cleveland metro area ranked 16th, just behind the Canton-Massillon region. (See accompanying chart.)
Those involved with the study were surprised to find such growth in the Rustbelt, said Ed Goodmann, policy manger for Engine Advocacy.
Many of the locations seeing growth, he said, “are not the places that you would conventionally think of when you think of high-tech industries.”
Goodmann acknowledged that areas such as Canton-Massillon had a relatively low number of high-tech industry jobs to start with leading to large percentage growth-rates from 2010 to 2011.
Nevertheless, he said, the job increases are no small matter for the metro areas, he said.
The study says that since the dot-com bust reached bottom in early 2004, employment growth in the high-tech sector nationwide has outpaced growth the private sector as a whole by three to one.
The study also says that workers in high-tech industries and STEM (science, technology, engineering and math) earn a “substantial wage premium of between 17 and 27 percent relative to workers in other fields.
The study only looked at employment growth in industries deemed to be in the “high tech” sector said Goodman, the policy manager for Engine Advocacy.
Additionally, Goodman noted, the study counted all employees in high-tech industries — janitors, secretaries, engineers.
The high-tech industries, Goodman said, all have a high concentration of technology-oriented workers in the STEM fields of science, technology, engineering and math. The industries include pharmaceutical and medicine manufacturing; computer and peripheral equipment manufacturing; aerospace product and parts manufacturing; software publishing; architectural, engineering, and related services; and computer systems design and related services.
Not included in the study are employees who perform high-tech tasks but do not work at a high-tech company.
“If you’re an IT worker at a dairy farm, you’re not going to be captured in this,” he said.
The study looked at data from the Bureau of Labor Statistics. The bureau’s information does not identify names of specific companies. Engine Advocacy commissioned the Bay Area Council Economic Institute to analyze the Bureau of Labor Statistics data.
To report is available at www.engine.is/techworks.
Katie Byard can be reached at 330-996-3781 or kbyard@thebeaconjournal.com.