If you think Boston is overrun with college students, you must not be trying to hire them. Massachusetts has more job openings that require a college degree than most other states, and it leads the nation in terms of high-skill job openings per capita.
According to a new report from the Georgetown Center on Education and the Workforce that scanned online job listings from thousands of websites, there were 94,600 open jobs in Massachusetts that required a bachelor’s degree or above in 2013, the fourth-highest total nationwide. And accounting for its relatively small college-educated workforce compared to much larger states such as California, New York, and Texas, Massachusetts leads the country in terms of high-skill job openings per worker.
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Part of it has to do with the state’s focus on high-tech industries. Jobs in science, technology, engineering, and math have 3.1 openings for every 100 workers, more than any other sector and six times the ratio for blue-collar jobs like construction, the Georgetown researchers said in their full report. Although workers with those skills are in high demand, the researchers noted that a software developer job is more likely to be advertised online than, say, a job for a coal miner.
At the same time, according to the report, the number of openings for lower-wage workers in Massachusetts has declined since the recession. From 2010 through 2013, food and personal service job listings -- most of which don’t require a college degree -- fell by 34 percent, the second-biggest drop of any state. And the number of blue-collar jobs advertised online dropped 19 percent, the sixth-biggest drop among the 39 states ranked.
Jack Newsham can be reached at jack.newsham@globe.com. Follow him on Twitter @TheNewsHam.