Madison among top 5 cities for high-tech jobs

Excerpted from The Wall Street Journal: Market Watch
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One in every five jobs in the United States required a high level of knowledge in science, technology, engineering or math as of 2011. Since the industrial revolution, the share of these kinds of jobs in the U.S. workforce has roughly doubled.

This week the Brookings Institution released “The Hidden STEM Economy,” a report that reviews the concentration of jobs that require knowledge in science, technology, engineering or math (STEM) by metropolitan area. These jobs are often found in health care, computers and manufacturing. Based on a review of the proportion of workers in STEM jobs in the 100 largest metropolitan areas, these are the U.S. metro areas with the most high-tech jobs.

10. Dayton, OH
9. Detroit-Warren-Livonia, MI
8. Baltimore-Townson, MD
7. San Francisco-Oakland-Fremont, CA
6. Boston-Cambridge-Quincy, MA
5. Madison, WI
4. Seattle-Tacoma-Bellevue, WA
3. Palm Bay-Melbourne-Titusville, FL
2. Washington-Arlington-Alexandria, VA
1. San Jose-Sunnyvale-Santa Clara, CA

Madison is home to the flagship campus of the University of Wisconsin, one of the largest research institutions in the United States. Associated with it is the University of Wisconsin Hospitals and Clinics, which employs approximately 10,000 individuals. The largest private employer in the Madison area is Epic Systems, a health care software company, which employs about 6,200 people locally. Overall, nine of the 100 largest employers in the Madison area are biotechnology companies. The average wage of a Madison STEM worker in 2011 was $67,359, while the average wage of a non-STEM worker was just $38,913.

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