Posted tagged ‘educational attainment’

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More on Shifting Economic Activity in NH

April 17, 2014

My post on the “Shifting Locus of Economic Activity in NH” back in January generated a lot of interest and emails. That post has more views than any other post on this blog over the past year and half. Admittedly that’s setting a pretty low bar as far as blog readership honors go. Nevertheless I want to thank my family as well as those with an interest in flying, swarming insects and an inability to spell “locust” in their search engines for making it possible.

 

As I noted in my first post on the topic, I believe there are a number of economic and demographic indicators that support my contention about the shift in economic activity. Still, there are some (many?) in the Granite State who disagree. In the spirit of giving the public what it wants and sparking debate, I present another of what will be several posts on the topic.
Some themes essential to my thesis are: that the ability to attract and retain talent (skilled individuals with higher levels of educational attainment) is the critical ingredient responsible for the shifting of activity in NH – as well as the key ingredient for producing a dynamic economy anywhere; and that communities offering amenities and services desirable to “talent” and at a relatively more affordable price are keys to attracting talent. I think price (the ability to offer desirable amenities and services at a relatively more affordable price lower than other communities that offer similar amenities) has been important. But I also think that patterns of economic activity in NH and throughout the country demonstrate that unless your community or state is sitting on a valuable store of fossil fuels or minerals, being cheaper isn’t enough to generate more robust economic activity. One interesting artifact of the debate over local government fiscal policies is the mistaken belief that communities spend more when they contain a higher percentage of lower-income residents. In fact, just the opposite is true – expectations for services, quality, and amenities, along with their costs, generally rise as communities (primarily cities – small and large) generate more economic activity and become wealthier. This typically creates a lot of conflict in communities that are experiencing new economic successes and associated demographic changes and can make sustaining a higher level of economic activity difficult for a community.
Getting back to the evidence that supports my contention about economic activity in NH, the previous decade has not been kind to NH or most states in terms of job growth. I documented the Seacoast’s increasing share of NH’s employment and in key industries in my prior post on the topic.  Here, and in future posts, I will look at some of the demographics of that job growth to support my thesis. The chart below shows the percentage change in jobs among individuals of all educational levels (age 25 and up) in different counties and the State of NH between 2003 and 2012, as well as the percentage of jobs held by individuals with at least a BA degree.

County Job Growth
Similar to my prior post, the chart shows that job growth has been higher in the Seacoast (defined here as Strafford and Rockingham Counties because of data availability while the prior post used data at the community level) than in either Hillsborough County or the State as a whole. More importantly, the chart shows that the rate of job growth in the Seacoast among those with at least a BA degree has exceeded the rates for either Hillsborough County or the State by an even wider margin. Strafford County has seen an especially large increase (largely in Dover – my domicile in the interests of full disclosure) but its much smaller employment base makes larger percentage changes easier to obtain. Again, however, it is not just job growth but the nature of that growth and the shifting of talent that is the key.
The Seacoast accounted for a higher percentage of the state’s net job growth between 2003 and 2012 (chart below). The percentage of the state’s net job growth accounted for by the Seacoast was 70% compared to 46% for Hillsborough County (note the percentages add to more than 100% because some counties had negative job growth during the time period).

Share of States Job Growth
Almost half of the net job growth in NH among workers with a BA degree occurred in the Seacoast. Hillsborough County still has a larger percentage of job holders in the state with a BA degree or higher (37% to 31% in the Seacoast) but that percentage has slipped by almost 1% over the time period, while the Seacoast’s percentage has increased by 1%. Still even shifts occurring at seemingly glacial speed are very powerful. I suppose it is possible that the Seacoast has just been more successful in adding jobs which overqualified BA’s are filling. Based on my initial examination of job growth by industry, I don’t think that accounts for the relative differences, but in future posts I will examine that and other possibilities.

Categories: Demographics, Educational Attainment, job growth, New Hampshire, NH, NH Economy
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The Locus of Economic Activity in NH is Shifting

January 21, 2014

I gave a presentation last month during which I argued that the locus of economic activity in New Hampshire is shifting to the Seacoast.  That is a provocative statement destined to offend the population centers of Manchester and Nashua and quite likely the individuals elected to represent them. Provocation isn’t my intent, it rarely is, but is often the result nevertheless.  This shift will take years to become more apparent but the evidence for its occurrence appears across a range of important economic and demographic metrics.  Over the past decade, private sector job growth in the combined Portsmouth and Dover/Rochester NECTAs** has outpaced growth in either the Manchester of Nashua NECTAs.  The Seacoast is home to only about 15% of private sector employment, but that percentage is growing.  The shift is not really about the job growth numbers because the Seacoast will always have smaller employment numbers than will the population centers of Manchester and Nashua.  It is about how so much more of the innovation and transformation that is occurring among businesses and industries in the state’s economy is occurring in the Seacoast region.

NH Regional job growth

Alone, the increase in private employment in the Seacoast relative to the Manchester and Nashua regions would not be that significant.  Rather, it is the increasing share of innovation and growth in key industries that the Seacoast is capturing that indicates the locus of key economic activity is shifting.  As the chart below shows, the Seacoast region has marginally increased its share of New Hampshire’s private sector employment since 2004, but it has, in relatively short time, substantially increased its share of finance and insurance industry employment, information industry employment, as well as both health care and manufacturing employment.  Annual town-level data stops in 2012 but with the coming addition of technology dependent, international companies like Safran, the manufacturing trend appears to be continuing.   The one key industry where the Seacoast has not gained share is in professional and business services.   This is a large, important, and growing sector of the New Hampshire economy.  In most states, key professional and business services firms often locate in the state’s largest city.  Major NH Law firms, engineering firms, advertising agencies, and many of the other industries that comprise this sector still seem to prefer to be centrally located and have their main offices in the state’s largest city, Manchester.  Having a main office anywhere other than  the largest city seems to signal, to some, that a business is “regional,” that it does not serve the entire state or the larger New England region. The Seacoast is also capturing a smaller share of retail employment, which is surprising given its location along two state borders.  It is not that retail is declining in the region but rather that it has grown faster elsewhere in the state.

Seacoast share of industries

Manchester and Nashua are still home to more companies in key industries than is the Seacoast and that will be true for some time, maybe always.  Still, there was a time when the Greater Nashua and Manchester areas were the technology and manufacturing center of New Hampshire and almost all important developments in manufacturing and technology industries occurred there.  These regions remain the technology leaders by numbers, but more key developments and new companies in technology and manufacturing are  occurring in the Seacoast.  The development of the Pease Tradeport into a premier location for industries of all types, along with the presence of a major research university (UNH), have played important roles in the shift.  But what is really sustaining the trend is the ability of the region to attract the talent (skilled individuals with higher levels of educational attainment) that companies in emerging, growing and higher value-added industries desperately need.   As I say far too often, brains are the most valuable resource in the 21st century.  Skilled, well-educated people have the most economic opportunities and they are the most mobile members of society.  Where they choose to locate, robust economic growth is likely to follow.  Examining Census data indicates that skilled individuals with higher levels of educational attainment have increasingly chosen to live in the Seacoast, and that has provided a key source of competitive advantage to the region.  The chart below shows how the population of individuals with a bachelor’s degree or higher has changed in some NH cities over the past two decades.  The chart shows that on a percentage basis, Portsmouth and Dover, by far, had the greatest increase of individuals over the age of 25 with a bachelor’s degree among their populations.  Somersworth, although beginning with a lower concentration of individuals with a bachelor’s degree, had the next largest percentage increase in subsequent decades.  Among the largest cities in the Seacoast, only Rochester has not seen a substantial increase in its population with a bachelor’s degree or higher.

Changes in Ed Attainment

If the Seacoast continues to increase its concentration of “talent,” then the locus of economic activity in the state will continue to shift toward the region.  Communities in the region continue to attract skilled individuals with higher levels of educational attainment because, to varying degrees, most have been able to provide a mix of services and social, cultural, and civic amenities, at a price more affordable than communities in other states.  But if being the “cheapest” place to live were the key, the Seacoast would not be thriving.  Rather, it is the combination of services and amenities at  relatively more affordable price (providing a good value) that has been attractive.  Many communities and regions are looking to thrive.   Like all regions in New Hampshire the Seacoast has heard, and for the most part heeded, the call for fiscal restraint (although you can never spend too little for some or too much for others), but most of its communities have looked for ways to continue to provide or increase the quality of their services and the amenities (natural, built, civic, social and cultural) they offer.  It is more difficult for urban areas to attract and retain the skilled individuals with higher levels of educational attainment that are increasingly the key to a vibrant economy because urban cities have to find ways to provide and encourage a level of services and amenities to compensate individuals for living in cities that have the problems associated with urban environments.

Most of the focus of economic development strategies is on creating policies to ensure a “good business climate.”  I think that is important and I also think NH has a pretty good business climate.  With so much concern over population and labor force growth and demographic changes in NH, more emphasis needs to be placed on creating a good “talent climate” as well as a good business climate. I don’t know that the Seacoast of NH has sought to do that but the demographic and economic data suggest they have done so regardless.   The result has been a competitive economic advantage. On a smaller and slightly different scale you can say the same thing about the Hanover/Lebanon area which serves as a nice control group to assure the importance of amenities don’t just mean having an ocean nearby.

 

** NECTA = New England City and Town Area, a grouping of towns into a connected labor market area, akin to a metropolitan or micropolitan statistical area.

Categories: economic development, Educational Attainment, job growth, NH, NH Economy
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Educational Attainment, Economic Prosperity and Fiscal Reality

March 4, 2013

I write and speak a lot about the importance of demographics to community and regional prosperity.  Over the past several years I have written and spoken about my belief that communities wanting to increase the number and quality of employment opportunities available in their town increasingly need to recognize the importance of being an attractive place for skilled individuals with higher levels of educational attainment.  Employers in emerging and growing industries  locate in areas where the pool of talent (skilled, well-educated individuals) is “deep” or growing.   A community can still see employment growth even if it doesn’t have a lot of skilled, well-educated individuals if it is located in a region that does have enough of them but the impact on and benefits to the community will be very different.

It is hard to empirically test the importance of skill levels and educational attainment to job growth in individual communities but anyone involved with the location and expansion decisions of employers knows how important the availability of a skilled and educated labor force is.  Because the occupational needs of employers in different industries varies greatly, I, and others, often use the percentage of the population age 25+ with at least a bachelor’s degree as a surrogate for trends in the education and skill-level of the workforce in a community or region. It’s a good way to labelled an elitist, at least by those who don’t know anything about you.  I don’t think only college graduates can get good jobs but it is clear to me that trends in the educational attainment of the population of cities and towns is a pretty good indicator of how the economic fortunes of a community are changing. I’ve tested the relationship statistically and found that there is a  relationship between the change in the percentage of individuals age 25+ with at least a BA degree in a community and employment growth over the past decade.  There are a lot of factors that influence employment growth but over past decade communities that have had larger increases in the percentage of individuals with high levels of educational attainment generally have had better job growth (or at least less negative growth).  The relationship narrowly missed statistical significance when tested on NH’s 40 most populated communities.  Since the recession in the early 2000’s, there has been virtually no private sector job growth in NH (primarily because the last “‘great recession” wiped-out gains from the middle of the decade).  The chart below crudely divides NH’s larger communities into quartiles according to the change between 2000 and 2010 in the percentage of their population age 25+ that has at least a BA degree and the mean change in private sector employment between 2003 and 2011.  One caveat, the figures for 2010 used to calculate this is based on the three-year average of American Community Survey values and smaller communities have larger margins of error in the survey results.  It is just one of the challenges in documenting the relationship between demographics and economic performance at the community level.  Nevertheless, I think  the data point to a relationship were towns that are seeing increasing levels of educational attainment among their population are performing better economically than than those that are seeing less of an increase.

job growth and ed attainment change

It also says a lot about how the character of a community might be changing.  I live in city that has seen a significant increase in the percentage of its population with a BA degree or higher over the past two decades.  That change has contributed to changing expectations of the community (the type of services and amenities it offers).  That type of change creates a clash between the old and new that has and continues to characterize many communities.  In many ways I believe local tax cap debates are more about demographic and socioeconomic changes than they are about economics and fiscal policies.  But I digress.

Skilled individuals with higher levels of educational attainment have the most economic opportunities and they are the most mobile.  I think keeping and attracting skilled individuals with higher levels of educational attainment is an increasingly important economic development strategy for communities.  Looking at changes in educational attainment between 2000 and 2010 among NH’s largest communities shows some interesting patterns.  Not surprisingly, some of the communities that have done the most to restrain expenditures have seen the smallest increases in educational attainment levels (some towns like Durham had such high levels – 77%  – they have no way to increase much).

ed attainment change by town

Spending liberally is never a good thing but providing the services and amenities desired by skilled and educated individuals and families at a price (in terms of local taxes) lower than other communities is a good way to accumulate the talented workforce that can increase real prosperity in a community.  Just adding skilled and educated individuals isn’t enough for employment growth, particularly if a community doesn’t want to be a center of employment or is otherwise inhospitable to employment growth.   I don’t think a low tax price alone is enough to attract talent and I don’t think providing amenities and services without regard to price is enough either, but too often never the twain shall meet in striking a balance between prices and  services and amenities and longer-term community development objectives.  I don’t know many local budgets that can’t be cut but unfortunately the cuts usually come at the expense of those services and amenities most likely to help a community attract or retain individuals with the most economic opportunities and choices of where to locate.  When I say or write these things I risk being labeled a big spender or liberal.  In reality I am just documenting trends that seem pretty clear to me.  Nevertheless, my advice to others is never bring data to an ideological fight if you want to escape unscathed.  In an age of austerity, spending decisions need to consider both the current  fiscal reality as well as the longer-term implications for the economic prospects  of  a community.

Categories: Demographics, economic development, Educational Attainment, Fiscal Policy, job growth, NH
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Why Can’t a Man Graduate More Like a Woman?

January 31, 2013

Brains are the most valuable resource in the 21st century.  Unless your state or region sits on top of a recently discovered oil or natural gas formation, skilled, well-educated individuals are the key source of competitive economic advantage throughout the U.S..   NH’s stellar growth in a slow growth region during the 1980’s and 1990’s and early part of the 2000’s was primarily driven by the increased concentration of “talent” in the Granite State.  A great state to live and work, with access to a regional labor market with a major metropolitan area that is home to world-class companies and institutions, and facilitated by NH public policies that increased the returns to education (by allowing individuals to keep more of the fruits of the education and labor) are largely responsible.  But in NH, as in the nation, half of the population appears  not to be contributing as much as they could be to a concentration of  talent that can provide us with a competitive advantage.  Females are now both entering and graduating from higher education institutions at rates that significantly exceed those of males.  I don’t know what is wrong with young males in this country, but as the father of young females, I didn’t need to look at a lot of data to know that young males have been a disappointment for some time now.

In NH, an increase in individuals with the highest levels of educational attainment  has largely been the result of an increase in the number of females in our state with at least a BA degree.  Increasing in numbers, females with at least a BA degree in NH now comprise more than 50% of NH’s labor force aged 25-64 with at least a BA degree.

Growth in Females with BA

I am pleased that the number of women with higher levels of educational attainment in NH is increasing, but I would be just as pleased if the number of males was increasing similarly, so that the growth in “talent” in NH didn’t depend so much on just continuing the positive trends among women.  Unfortunately, it doesn’t look like that is going to happen soon.  As the chart below shows, the trends in the educational attainment of NH’s younger labor force (age 25-34) shows that the number of males with at least a BA degree has been stagnating, while the number of females has risen substantially.

Age 25 to 34 With BA

I’ve got no particular insights into reasons for these trends and I have no direct experience with the decision and thought processes of  young males,  for most of the past several years its been my job to hate them, but  I could probably overcome some of that if they started contributing more to the concentration of skill and talent among us.

Categories: college, Education, Educational Attainment, Gender
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NH’s Most Valuable Import?

December 11, 2012

I write a lot about the importance of skilled individuals with higher levels of educational attainment to the prospects for our nation’s and NH’s economic growth and prosperity.  I’ve also written about how important the in-migration of skilled individuals with higher levels of educational attainment from other states to NH has been to NH’s economic success.

I know  foreign immigration to the U.S. is a hot-button issue in this country and an increasingly high-profile one in cities like Manchester in NH.  Whether because of economics, legitimate  fiscal concerns, or simple xenophobia,  for many, foreign immigration is viewed with concern, skepticism, and sometimes hostility.  While some cities and school districts are more challenged by differing characteristics of immigrant populations in NH, on balance, foreign born individuals add significantly to the overall level of skill and educational attainment of the workforce in NH.  The chart below shows how much higher is the educational attainment of the foreign-born workforce in NH than it is in the U.S. as whole.

Ed Attainment by Place of Birth US and NH

Comparing foreign born workers in NH to U.S. born workers in NH shows that foreign born workers are much more likely to have a graduate or professional degree than are U.S. born workers age 25-34.  Foreign born workers comprise a disproportionately large percentage of NH residents with graduate and professional degrees and that is reflected in many of the highest skill occupations in the state.  Which, of course, will be the subject of a future post.

Ed attainment by birth ages 25 to 34

Categories: Demographics, Educational Attainment, immigration, migration
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Who are the 47% and Who Did they Really Vote For?

December 6, 2012

I know a lot of people who voted for President Obama (and about as many and maybe more who voted for Mitt Romney).  None of the people who voted for the President fit the famous “47%” profile of individuals dependent on government for support.  In fact, very much the opposite was the case.  Nevertheless, the notion that a dependent population was largely responsible for the President’s re-election seems popular in some circles.  My small circle of acquaintances is not a  valid sample from which to accept or reject the dependency theory of  the election so here is one small step toward empirical verification or rejection.

I chose ten states from various regions of the country (NH,MA,NY,IN,KS,GA,FL,TX,AZ,OR), half of whom were won by President Obama and half by Mitt Romney.   I compiled a county-level dataset that includes the percentage of votes won by each candidate, the percentage of the population age 25 and older in the county that has a bachelor’s degree or higher, and the percentage of the population in the county that is white and non-Hispanic.   For my dependency measure I used the percentage of total personal income in the county that comes from government transfer payments.  The largest government transfer payments are for Social Security, Medicare and Medicaid (see chart below).  Of those, only Medicaid is for low-income individuals (and thus more closely fitting the profile of dependency) and income support payments like disability, supplemental income, food stamps and other (see chart below).

transfer payments

The ten states are not random and perhaps not a valid sample and there are many more demographic variables I could have included but this is all I could accommodate in the span of a Boston Celtics game and a couple of glasses of wine.  The ten states represent 814 counties, or about 26% of all counties in the U.S.  Using a simple regression model that analyzes the impact of the educational, race, and dependency variables on the percentage of the vote in each county received by the President, results were significant but still only explain about 25% of the variation in the percentage of the vote received by the President.  A larger percentage of income in a county  from government transfer payments is, in fact,  positively related to higher percentage of the vote for the President (although the simple correlation is small), and a higher percentage of the population that is white is negatively related to the vote received by the President (no surprise that we are a long ways from being color blind).  Its no great epiphany that users and supporters of government assistance  would be more likely to vote for a Democrat or that white voters might be less likely to vote for the President.  What is most interesting, however, is that the strongest relationship is a positive one between the percentage of persons age 25 and above in a county who have at least a bachelor’s degree, and the percentage of the vote received by the President.  Republicans may be right about not being able to win as many individuals who rely on government assistance as will Democrats but over the next few decades the percentage of the population that will be receiving the largest share of government benefits (Social Security and Medicare) is going to skyrocket and the percentage of the population that has a bachelor’s degree or higher is likely to increase as well.

I guess you can dismiss election results when they appear to be an aberration driven by the “great unwashed” who depend on government benefits, but what do you say if  the results were more influenced by the voting behavior of the most educated?

Anyone interested in the limited dataset I have, feel free to contact me.  I’d love to include all 50 states and many more demographic and economic variable but I doubt I will ever get to that.  For the truly nerdy who might want the stats from the regression models, you are welcome to those as well.

Categories: Demographics, Dependency, Election, Politics
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Don’t Just Honor Them, Hire Them!

November 12, 2012

Today we honor veterans, at least that’s the idea if we can find the time between trips to the mall.  I hope you read about or  listen to their stories today.  If you happen to come by this blog, on this important day, here is one important story.  The unemployment rate among those who have served on active military duty  is higher than it is for those who have not served,  at all levels of educational attainment.  I am no expert on why, but I know it  is no way to thank men and women for their service.   Below is a chart that shows the unemployment rate among 25-34 year olds in New Hampshire, by educational attainment and whether or not they ever served on active military duty.    So honor them today for sure, but  hire them tomorrow if you can.

Categories: Education, Educational Attainment, Unemployment
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Keeping an Eye On Which Prize?

October 26, 2012

Every state is obsessed with maintaining or creating a “good business climate.”  I think NH has traditionally had a good business climate, with both the public and policymakers demonstrating a high regard for businesses,  and with a climate of mutual respect between the business community  and state policymakers.  At times they have differed in their views, and the balance of interests could change marginally from time to time, but over the years there was a nice balance where each was able to ultimately rely on one another to increase opportunities and prosperity in the state.  There is a lot of fretting over the business climate in the state and what it means for our ability to “attract” businesses. That is always a good thing to monitor, but I am concerned that we (business people, policy makers, citizens) may be spending too little time concerned with creating a climate that is attractive to individuals.  More specifically, skilled individuals with higher levels of educational attainment that increasingly are the source of competitive economic advantage in states and regions.  The in-migration of individuals with higher levels of educational attainment fueled NH’s economy and increased the concentration of technology and higher-skill industries and occupations during much of the past few decades, just as it has in other states that have been able to successfully attract skilled, well-educated individuals.   The chart below shows how the educational attainment of NH residents differs between  those who were born and continue to live in NH, and those who live in NH but where born in another state (in a future post I will discuss international migrants).

The chart shows that residents who have moved to NH from another state are much more likely to have a bachelor’s or higher educational degree.  NH regularly loses its natives with higher-levels of educational attainment to others states, just as other states lose those individuals.  Individuals with higher-levels of educational attainment are the most mobile in society.  They have the most opportunities and generally resources that afford them more choices on where to locate.  That means that the native population will often show overall levels of educational attainment lower than in-migrants from other states.  In-migrants to MA also have much higher overall levels of educational attainment than natives who live in the state,  but the native population that was born and lives in MA has higher levels of educational attainment than the native population in NH.  In fact, educational attainment among those who where born and live in MA looks a lot like the in-migrant population of NH, not surprising since about 300,000 individuals born in MA now reside in NH.

In-migration to NH has been slowing and recently stopped, with tremendous implications for our economy’s ability to grow, innovate, and remain dynamic.  Lets keep our eye on maintaining a good business climate (we can start by reinforcing our tradition of mutual respect between business and government), but I think we need to quickly  begin asking ourselves if a singular concern about business climate is sufficient to assure growth in our economy  if NH is losing its attractiveness to the individuals who are increasingly the source of its economic strength.

Categories: Demographics, Educational Attainment, migration
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The Feminization of NH’s Workforce

October 22, 2012

Nothing gets you thinking about gender equity issues more than being the father of three daughters, except maybe being the father of four or more daughters.  In my upcoming October edition of  “Trends Lines” I am looking at trends in NH’s labor force.  One of the more significant trends is the increasing percentage of women employed at businesses in NH.  Despite the fact that men participate in NH’s (and the nation’s) labor force at higher rates (about 9% higher in NH) than do women, women now are a slight majority of employees at businesses in NH.  Women comprised 51% of employees covered by unemployment insurance during the third quarter of 2011 – the most recent data available.   Only in Hillsborough and Sullivan Counties are men a majority (and by less than 1%) of employees at NH businesses.

Among workers with the highest level of educational attainment, those with a bachelor’s degree or higher, women comprise 52% of those employed by NH businesses.   Moreover, the percentage of NH workers with the highest levels of educational attainment who are women is likely to increase because the percentage of new hires (not including recalls of  layoffs), with at least a bachelors degree, who are women, is now even higher (53% – see chart below).  These differences don’t seem large, but over time  they have tremendous implications for the economy and for society.

I don’t know if this data says more about the changing nature of the workplace or the changing nature of the male workforce, but as the father of three daughters, my anecdotal experience leads me to believe it is more about the latter.

Categories: Demographics, Gender, Help Wanted, job growth, Labor, Recession
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