Manufacturing Grows in CT as China Gains on US

State-by-state  data released by the National Science Board indicates that 2011 was the first year since 1998 that manufacturing employment in Connecticut increased. The percentage of Connecticut college graduates receiving a science or engineering degree was 33.1 percent — ranking the state No. 10 in the nation. In the proficiency of fourth and eighth graders in math and science, Connecticut was in the top quartile in every category.  And the state’s percentage of doctorate of science and engineering holders among the workforce ranked fourth in the nation. That's the good news - for Connecticut - in "Science and Engineering Indicators 2012," a 575-page report measuring and characterizing R&D, education, workforce, academic, public attitudes and state data.

The broader context is that China outpaces the U.S.  in the number of advanced degrees in natural science and engineering, hampering the country’s chance of leading globally in high-tech research and production, according to the National Science Board, which is the governing body of the National Science Foundation.  And overall, the U.S. lost more than a quarter of its high-tech manufacturing jobs during the past decade as U.S.-based multinational companies placed a growing percentage of their research-and-development operations overseas.