The Brookings Institution has released its latest analysis of metropolitan economies and Massachusetts is one of fifteen states where the bulk of economic output comes from one metropolitan region. 

That’s the Boston metro of course, a point that we have documented through our research as well.  There are six metro regions in Massachusetts and four of them are, according to Brookings, in the top 100 metros nationally.  But only one is driving the state’s economy and helping us toward recovery.

There are consequences of relying on just one metro for so much of our economic growth.  This is well documented in the new issue of MassBenchmarks, the fine publication about the state’s economy by UMass.  Calling the state’s economic recovery largely “white collar” and “regionally imbalanced,” Michael Goodman and Robert Nakosteen write, “For many households beyond the Route 495 belt, and those working in the construction, manufacturing, and consumer sensitive sectors statewide, it continues to look and feel like a recession.”  In another article in the issue, Andy Sum and colleagues at Northeastern’s Center for Labor Market Studies pull no punches, arguing that “A Great Depression has fallen upon U.S. and Massachusetts’ blue collar workers with adverse effects for them, their families, and their communities.” 

Massachusetts needs a more balanced approach to economic development to take advantage of our strengths in certain clusters, build the skills of our workforce through short and long-term training, and attract private investment to the state’s Gateway Cities.  The Patrick administration took another major step in that direction recently by appointing Jennifer Murphy to the new post of Assistant Secretary for Gateway Cities Initiatives. 

Ms. Murphy will coordinate economic and community development strategy across eight secretariats, serving as the point person on Gateway City renewal efforts.  It is an important job with big challenges put best by Goodman and Nokosteen in MassBenchmarks.  They write, “Beyond metropolitan Boston, the prospects of robust economic growth are not bright, and the Commonwealth’s challenges go well beyond the problems presented by the current business cycle…Ensuring that a broader array of the state’s regions and working families have the opportunity to reap the benefits of expected periods of future prosperity may be the most important and challenging issue facing both the political and business leaders of our Commonwealth.”  We agree!  This is not easy work, but with a stronger policy focus provided by the assistant secretary, and with the Gateway Cities working collaboratively, we think we can make some progress over the next several years and help Gateway Cities contribute more to the state’s recovery from the Great Recession. 

Wonk & Roll is regular series of posts by MassINC Executive Vice President John Schneider on policy topics of interest to the MassINC community. Now let’s get to work.