Boston area makes up lost ground

After falling far behind other areas during the boom years, Boston has been making up lost ground during the Great Recession. That, at least, according to a new study from the Milken Institute that ranks metropolitan areas by their success at creating and sustaining jobs and economic growth, with a heavy emphasis on technology.

The study compared performance from 2003-08 to gains and losses during 2007-08 alone, so these numbers don't reflect the past year. But based on other data, it seems likely that despite our local struggles, our position relative to the national economy continued to improve. Boston never enjoyed most of the benefits of booming growth, but that has kept us relatively well insulated from the bust that has followed. We continue to produce new jobs and industries, particularly in the high tech sector, a fact that has positioned us unusually well to take advantage of the recovery. Boston itself, of course, has benefited less from this than the inner and outer suburban belts. Even so, during a period when so many are struggling, it's nice to have a reminder that one reason we fell so far behind was that other regions were pursuing boom-fueled growth that proved disastrously unsustainable, and that the fundamental engines of our local economy are still chugging along.

In its rankings of the 200 largest MDAs, Milken found that Cambridge-Framingham-Lowell jumped 94 spots in the 2008 rankings, Worcester gained 77, Peabody 60, and Boston-Quincy passed 47 other cities. The new rankings place Boston 61st overall. Over the past five years, Boston badly trailed the national average in job creation, wage growth, and high tech GDP growth. It now beats the national average in the first two of those categories, and while it hasn't quite equaled it in the third, its performance has jumped a hundred spots on the list. Cambridge shows an even more impressive reversal, with similar gains in job and wage growth, and a huge leap in high tech in 2008 - Milken now ranks it first in the country for its concentration of high tech industries, and it has leapt from 114th to 13th in high tech GDP growth.

It's important to stress that these rankings don't include 2009. On the other hand, the overall index is a lagging indicator, as it takes into account five-year data as well as past-year performance. Boston will, I suspect, continue to look better than many other metropolitan areas. "We're growing modestly while you're shrinking rapidly" isn't exactly a proud civic boast, but it sure beats the heck out of being on the other side of that equation.

The only local coverage I can find of this study is in the T&G; it's a shame that stories like this don't get more play in the Boston press.