A new report ranks 100 metros by "digital scores", based on the employment shares of workers in “low,” “medium,” or “high” digital jobs. Cities with a more computerized workforce tend to have higher average wages.
Philadelphia, the nation’s fifth-largest city, has risen through Brookings' ranks from 26th in 2002 to 13th in 2017. Helping the state's score is a higher share of big firms than the national average, including Comcast, Vanguard, and Lockheed Martin, per Realtor.com. Of the 100 metros evaluated, San Jose was at the top with the largest share of "high", and "medium" digital jobs.
“All things equal, the more digital a person, a firm, an industry or a place are, the better they do economically,” Mark Muro, the Metropolitan Policy Program’s director, told MarketWatch. The degree of digital skill available in the labor force in any given metropolitan area, Muro said, is “not just one measure, but a powerful driver of economic outcomes.”
