New England as the Twenty-First Century Approaches: No Time for Complacency

Abstract

her valuable research assistance. New England has undergone significant change in its employment and labor force over the past three decades. Employment in the region has shifted from manufacturing into services at a faster rate than it has in the U.S. economy. Within manufacturing the trend has been away from nondurable goods into high-value-added, high-tech industries. In this transition, both income and productivity have increased more rapidly in the region than in the nation. A critical driver behind New England’s prosperity is its hightechnology infrastructure, which cultivates innovation, entrepreneurship, and the development of new technologies, processes, and products. New England captures a disproportionately large share of the nation’s federal R&D funding, a pattern that has held true as federal funding has shifted from defense-related manufacturing toward services such as health care and biotechnology. The region attracts a relatively high percentage of the