Report: Metro areas drive growth
A new report from Washington, D.C.-based Brookings Institution found that Maine's three metro areas drive 65% of the state's economic output.
According to the report, the metro areas -- Portland-South-Portland-Biddeford, Lewiston-Auburn and Bangor -- generated more than $33 billion in gross domestic product in 2009, or 65.5% of the state's total GDP. The Portland metro area was responsible for $23 billion of that, or 46% of the state's total. The three metro areas also hold 63.4% of the state's payroll employment, but just 58.6% of the state's population. The three areas also drive the state's "next economy" with high percentages of workers in innovation, exports, low-carbon initiatives and people with advanced degrees. More than 73% of the state's innovation workers -- or those in engineering or science jobs -- are located in the three metro areas, as well as 64.2% of those people ages 25-64 with a post-secondary degree.
The Portland metro area is one of the nation's 100 largest metro areas, according to the report, and has more than 266,000 payroll jobs, or 43.3% of the state total. In addition, 60.4% of the state's innovation workers are located in the Portland metro area. The report concluded that the economic future for many states lies within the performance of their metro areas, and that metro areas generated the bulk of economic output in 47 of the 50 states.
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