Metro Denver EDC releases aerospace and energy industry studies

Sixth annual report details the Metro Denver and Northern Colorado region's competitiveness compared to the 50 largest U.S. metro areas

A major step in crafting a region's economic development strategy focuses on the types of industries to target for company growth and retention. The Metro Denver Economic Development Corporation (Metro Denver EDC) released its sixth annual Industry Cluster Study, a competitive analysis of industries leading the nine-county Metro Denver and Northern Colorado region's recovery and future job expansion.

The study, completed by the Metro Denver EDC's Chief Economist Patty Silverstein of Development Research Partners, analyzes seven major industries in the nine-county region: aerospace, aviation, bioscience, broadcasting and telecommunications, energy, financial services, and information technology-software. The analysis factors new employment data from third quarter 2009 to third quarter 2010.

The new report clearly shows the effects of the national recession on the region's industry base, with six of the seven industries posting negative growth for the one-year period. In fact, the cleantech subsector was the only cluster to add jobs in 2010.

"Cleantech job growth has certainly been a 'bright light' this past year and points to the successful collaboration of the economic development community with Governor Ritter and leaders in the General Assembly to expand job opportunities in this cluster," explained Tom Clark, executive vice president of the Metro Denver EDC.

The passage of Colorado's 30 percent Renewable Energy Standard during the 2010 session has created a solid foundation for clean energy companies to invest and add jobs throughout Colorado. In May 2010, the Metro Denver EDC launched its Colorado Cleantech marketing initiative to build on the successful location of two of the world's largest clean energy companies--Vestas and SMA Solar Technology--to the state.

"Despite overall bleak numbers for 2010, our five-year growth in a majority of these industries is positive," added Clark. "Colorado is top of mind for its highly educated workforce and entrepreneurial business climate. Targeting our efforts in these 'innovation' clusters is the right strategy to drive economic prosperity."

The Metro Denver cluster analysis includes industry descriptions, employment concentration rank compared to the 50 largest U.S. metropolitan areas, and key industry facts.

Metro Denver and Northern Colorado Industry Clusters - Competitive Advantages:

  • Aerospace - The nine-county region ranks first out of the 50 largest metros for private aerospace employment concentration, with 19,170 workers. Job growth from 2005 to 2010 was 13 percent, compared to two percent for the U.S.
  • Aviation - Growth at Denver International Airport will change the face of the region's aviation industry. In addition, three strategically located reliever airports-Centennial, Front Range, and Rocky Mountain Metropolitan-contribute to expansion in the region's aviation cluster.  
  • Bioscience - The region's medical device sector is the eighth-largest in the nation. Employment grew 6.4 percent from 2005-2010, with 9.8 percent growth nationally.
  • Broadcasting and Telecommunications - The region is a major center for this industry due to its location in the Mountain time zone and one-bounce satellite capability, ranking third in the nation for employment concentration in 2010.
  • Energy - The region ranks seventh in the U.S. for cleantech employment and sixth for fossil employment. The region's cleantech job growth in 2010 was 7.1 percent and over the five-year period, the industry grew by 33.4 percent.
  • Financial Services - Although hard hit by the recession, the region ranks third in the U.S. for banking and finance employment and employs nearly 50,000 people in the investments and insurance subsectors.
  • Information Technology - Software - Software companies employ 2.8 percent of the region's total workforce, compared to a 1.5 employment concentration nationally. The region has 40,360 workers in this sector.

All reports are available in the industry section on www.metrodenver.org.