STEM Growth Expands Beyond Core Markets

Much of the STEM sector’s employment growth over the past three years occurred outside Silicon Valley and in emerging markets such as Salt Laker City. (Photo: Utah.com)

NEW YORK CITY—Between 2014 and 2016, the US added nearly half a million jobs in the so-called STEM (science, technology, engineering and mathematics) sector. However, less than one third of those jobs were located in the usual suspects, such as Silicon Valley, Austin and Seattle. Instead, 345,000 of the 490,000 STEM positions created during that period could be found primarily in what MetLife Investment Management calls NextTech markets, including Washington, DC; Pittsburgh; Salt Lake City; and San Diego.

“The NextTech markets are poised to outperform in this cycle and the next,” says Adam Ruggiero, associate director, MetLife Investment Management. “The shift towards specializations in these markets also offers investors the opportunity to place strong bets on the technologies of the future and the real estate demand their success will generate. They offer lower concentration risk, strong starting yields, solid income growth and rich future valuations.”