But what exactly is a high-tech industry? And how can we determine how high-tech a city or metro area is? In the late 1970s, researchers often used the share of scientists or engineers to classify an industry as high-tech, but recent studies have tended to focus on factors such as whether the industry produces high-tech products (like electronics and computers) or uses high-tech inputs (for example,spends a lot of money on research and development).Download the article here in pdf format.
A growing body of research suggests that human capital -- skilled labor -- may be a better gauge and a more important driver of economic development. Growth theorists have stressed the importance of human capital to productivity and income growth for the economy as a whole. Other researchers have tried to assess the role of skilled labor in regional employment growth. In The Rise of the Skilled City, for example, Edward Glaeser and Albert Saiz suggest that metro areas with educated workers grow more quickly than comparable cities with less human capital, for the most part because they are more economically productive and better able to adapt to economic change.
In the last census, 11% of working age adults in the city of Cleveland had four-year college degrees -- tying us with Detroit for last place among the fifty biggest U.S. cities. And 31% of Cleveland adults lacked even high school degrees.
What are our chances?