May 25, 2010. SUS Chancellor Frank Brogan touts New Florida initiative, state’s biotech industry, legislature’s support of public higher ed.
By Frank T. Brogan, special to the St. Petersburg Times
In Print: Tuesday, May 25, 2010
There are a number of reasons why long-term investment in the State University System of Florida makes sense. Here’s one: A knowledge-based economy creates good jobs, even when times are bad.
For example, a recent study by the research firm Battelle and the Biotechnology Industry Organization found that in the first year of the recession, the number of American biosciences jobs rose 1.4 percent while the economy as a whole saw jobs disappear. That’s a good argument for sustained investment in a high-wage, knowledge-based economy.
It gets better. The same study found that in Florida, the number of biotech jobs rose 2.1 percent while private-sector jobs as a whole dropped 4.1 percent in that first year of the recession.
In fact, since 2001, biotech jobs in our state have grown by 18 percent, more than twice as fast as the Florida job market as a whole.
Read more at tampabay.com.