The fertile corridor
I-495 belt is home to 1 in 11 state jobs
By 2005, one of every 12 business establishments in Massachusetts was located within the I-495/MetroWest region, according to the 495/MetroWest Corridor Partnership.
The partnership, which is an economic advocacy group for 32 towns in what it calls the "Arc of Innovation," recently released a study of the region's demographic data.
Along with the relatively high percentage of establishments, the corridor also claimed one of every 11 jobs in Massachusetts as of 2005.
"Since 1980, the Arc of Innovation has become a crucial foundation of the commonwealth's economy," the partnership's study of economic indicators said.
Young blood
Not only is the region where many of the state's jobs are, but it is also the source of many employees for those jobs, the partnership said.
But only if the young and college educated choose to stay. Population growth in the corridor between 1990 and 2000 was mostly among children and people between the ages of 35 and 59.
The partnership said 29,689 people between 20 and 34 left the state during that period. It was the only age group in the region to lose population during those years.
However, projections from the Metropolitan Area Planning Council argued that the corridor would add 73,000 people between 2000 and 2010, and nearly 30,000 between 2010 and 2020.
The population of the I-495/MetroWest area includes a workforce of about 300,000, the partnership said. That is more workers than the number of jobs, which was at 281,000 in 2005.
But the gap has been closing, the partnership said, and since 1991, the number of jobs has grown more rapidly than the number of workers in the region. Between 1990 and 2005, with the exception of 1991, the annual unemployment rate for the region was lower than the state and national unemployment rate, the partnership said.
Wages in the region have risen by 49 percent over the last 25 years, the partnership said. In 2005, the businesses in the corridor had a combined payroll of $15.6 billion.
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