An economic development research and site consulting firm ranked Jacksonville in its 2012 list of “Industry Hotspots” in the specialization of communication services.
AngelouEconomics, based in Austin, Texas, analyzed 36 industry groups and released its analysis this week of the second set of six groups.
Angelou rated Jacksonville No. 10 in communication services. Jacksonville was measured against its population peers in the middle third of the 100 largest metro areas.
The strong presence of a specialization, such as communication services, indicates that an area is strongly invested in the industry and can develop within it.
“Industries tend to form clusters that allow them to share ideas, talent, suppliers, infrastructure and investment in ways that deliver shared benefit among industry participants,” said the Angelou report.
“In turn, these clusters tend to define the communities in which they are located,” it said.
Communication services is defined as TV cable and subscription programming as well as all other forms of telecommunications, including wired, wireless and satellite.
The first report of six “HotSpots,” released in April, ranked Jacksonville in the three specializations of aerospace and defense, business support services, and apparel and textile manufacturing.
This week Jacksonville did not make the top 10 in the other five categories released — civic enterprises, communication equipment manufacturing, computer equipment manufacturing, consumer goods manufacturing and construction manufacturers and suppliers.
The top 10 middle-third metro areas in the six industries measured ranged in population from Worchester, Mass., at just below 800,000 people, to Austin, Texas, at 1.7 million people.
Jacksonville’s metro area population was listed at 1.35 million.
Angelou said that as part of a multimonth study, it “completed a sweeping analysis of America’s 100 largest metropolitan areas.”
The focus was to calculate and compare the concentration of industry groups within those areas.
“This allows one to better understand where and why certain industries locate where they do and the implication that this may have for the communities in which they have the strongest presence,” it said.
AngelouEconomics said the top 100 metro areas account for about 73 percent of total U.S. gross domestic product and more than $9.5 trillion of annual economic output.
The firm said the 36 industry cluster groups were analyzed and communities were ranked based on their “location quotient” in each industry group.
“Location quotients” are a measure of industry concentration within a particular area relative to the concentration of that industry in the nation as a whole, it said.
The top 10 clusters among the 100 largest metro areas by industry for the second six industries show where the concentrations are highest nationwide:
• Civic enterprises — Honolulu, population 953,207.
• Communication equipment manufacturing — Rochester, N.Y., population 1.1 million.
• Communication services — Albuquerque, N.M., population 907,755.
• Computer equipment manufacturing — Austin, population 1.7 million.
• Construction manufacturers and supplies — Baton Rouge, La., population 802,484.
• Consumer goods manufacturing — Grand Rapids, Mich., population 774,769.
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