When people think about technology in the U.S., they are likely to think about markets like Silicon Valley, Boston, Northern Virginia, Maryland’s I-two seventy corridor, Research Triangle and other places where high tech firms have clustered. They may not think about Jackson, Mississippi and Nashville, Tennessee, but technology has been expanding rapidly in these markets in recent years.
Between twenty thirteen and twenty fifteen, the Nashville metropolitan area led the nation with an eight percent increase in employment in sectors that use science, technology, engineering or math skills. This is according to a recently released Brookings Institution report.
The San Francisco Bay area was next, followed by Jackson, where the number of high tech jobs expanded by about seven and a half percent. What is driving this high tech job growth in the southern U.S. – that’s simple – it’s the auto industry. According to the report, vehicle and parts manufacturing accounted for nearly a third of advanced industry jobs in the Nashville area.
Both GM and Nissan maintain plants there. In Jackson, a similar share of high tech jobs are tied to the automotive industry, and employment in that segment expanded more than ten percent between twenty thirteen and twenty fifteen.
