California leads the country in the number of high-tech jobs (919,322)

High-tech industry adds jobs for 2nd year in a row

Silicon Valley / San Jose Business Journal - 12:37 PM PDT Tuesday, April 24, 2007
As might be expected in the state that houses the Silicon Valley, California employs more technology workers that anywhere else in the country and pays them the most.

A report released Tuesday by AeA, formerly the American Electronics Association, said California leads the country in the number of high-tech jobs (919,322), the most tech jobs added (14,402) and the highest average annual wage for a position in the technology industry ($95,294).

In 2006, the report says, the high-tech industry added nearly 150,000 jobs for a total of 5.8 million in the United States. This growth is faster than the 87,400 jobs added in 2005, and the two years of growth represent an increase of four percent.

The report is based on U.S. Bureau of Labor Statistics data, which is collected from all businesses in the United States as required by law for the state unemployment insurance program.

The high-tech manufacturing industry added 5,100 net jobs in 2006. Software services and engineering and tech services employment were up in 2006 for the third year in a row, increasing by 88,500 jobs and 66,300 jobs, respectively. Only the communications services industry continues to struggle, losing 13,300 net jobs in 2006.

While it is no surprise that California led the nation in net job creation, Florida saw the second largest gain, adding 10,900 tech jobs in 2005. This is the second year in a row that Florida was among the top five states by tech employment creation.

The report also found that after dropping slightly in 2005, venture capital investment in the technology industry rose by $285 million, to $12.7 billion in 2006. High tech accounts for half of all venture capital investments in the nation. R&D expenditures by high-tech companies jumped by 22 percent in 2004, the most recent data available, totaling $70.6 billion, a record breaking amount of R&D.

The leading states by high-tech employment in 2005 were California (919,300), Texas (445,800), New York (299,900), Florida (276,400), and Virginia (261,000). 2005 data are the most recent available at the state level.

Forty-eight cyberstates have annual average high-tech wages that are 50 percent or higher than the average private sector wage in their respective state, and 10 cyberstates have wages that are 90 percent higher.

Silicon Valley / San Jose Business Journal - 12:37 PM PDT Tuesday, April 24, 2007