And that, according to the Massachusetts Competitiveness Index Report released Tuesday by the Massachusetts Taxpayers Foundation, UMass Amherst Donahue Institute and Massachusetts Competitive Partnership, has been our high-wage, high-knowledge industries, stemming from the historically close ties between its education system and economy.

Though Massachusetts’ already highly educated population has gotten even more so in recent years — between 2018 and 2022, the population of those 25 and older with a bachelor’s degree increased more than 2 percentage points — its labor force is shrinking, the report says.

According to the report, wealthier residents comprise a significant portion of that decrease. That’s a population more likely to work in the jobs that support the state’s economy, and whose taxes fund the most government programs, especially since the passage of the income surtax in 2022.