Education Is the Key to Success in the Knowledge Economy

Most employers will look to hire the smartest workers they can find at a price they can afford. It’s really a matter of supply and demand.

It’s pretty clear to me that “university towns” have a major advantage when it comes to leadership in the knowledge-based economy. After all, they have the “big three” requisites when it comes to nurturing and growing technology-driven companies: people, facilities and money.

You can already see it in the Bureau of Labor Statistics’ monthly unemployment figures. Check it out. Whether it’s for the current month, or averaged during the past 12 months, the metro areas with the lowest unemployment figures are almost all home to a major research university.

The reasons for that are obvious.

Each has a high percentage of working age adults who possess at least a bachelor’s degree. While the U.S. average is about one in four, in Boulder, Colo., home of the University of Colorado, it is slightly more than 52 percent. Nearly one in four adults in Ithaca, N.Y., home to Cornell University, has at least a master’s degree.

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Whether it’s for the current month, or averaged during the past 12 months, the metro areas with the lowest unemployment figures are almost all home to a major research university.

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In College Station, Texas, home to Texas A&M University, which for decades was the punch line for countless Aggie jokes (full disclosure: I am an Aggie), nearly 6 percent of adults possess a Ph.D. Fewer than one in three metros in the U.S. even have as much as 1 percent of their work force with doctorates.

Not only do universities attract (as well as produce) a lot of bright people, they also have great facilities designed for research.

By: Bill King, Chief Editor

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