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October 05, 2011, 12:28 AM EDT By Juliann Francis
Oct. 5 (Bloomberg) -- The U.S. high-technology industry lost 115,800 jobs in 2010, a 2 percent decline that marked the industry’s second consecutive year of falling employment.
The job losses were less than half the 249,500 positions eliminated in 2009, according to a report released today by the TechAmerica Foundation, a non-profit, non-partisan affiliate of the Washington-based trade group TechAmerica.
Three of the industry’s four sectors -- communications services, technology manufacturing and engineering and technology services -- lost jobs. Technology companies employed 5.75 million workers in 2010, according to the report, which was based on data from the U.S. Bureau of Labor Statistics.
Software services, which includes Microsoft Corp. and Google Inc., was the only industry sector to add jobs, expanding by 22,800 positions for an increase of 1 percent, according to the report.
“To restore job growth in the U.S. tech industry, the Unites States needs to focus on” fostering “a technically skilled workforce by educating American youth in math, science and engineering, and by welcoming -- not shunning -- highly skilled talent from across the globe,” Robert Bennett, chairman of the foundation, and Matthew Kazmierczak, senior vice president of the foundation, wrote in the report.
President Barack Obama has touted the technology industry as a vehicle for creating jobs to lower the nation’s 9.1 percent unemployment rate. As part of his $447 billion jobs proposal, Obama is pushing for policies supported by the technology industry that include science and math education reforms and the authorization of trade agreements with South Korea, Columbia and Panama.
Higher Wages
Technology industry positions pay a 93 percent higher wage than the typical private sector job, with the average high-tech worker earning $86,800 in 2010, according to the report. The best paid technology workers in 2010 were computer and peripheral equipment manufacturers, who brought in a $125,600 annual wage.
High-tech jobs comprised 10.5 percent of the total private sector payroll in the U.S. The increase in software services employment occurred as the sector “dominated” growth in the number of high-tech establishments by adding 5,800 businesses, according to the report.
On average, every new technology job supports three jobs in other sectors of the economy, according to Ed Lazowska, chairman of the Computer Science Department at the University of Washington in Spokane. The multiplier for information technology jobs is nearly 5 to 1 because jobs in the tech industry pay, on average, nearly double the state average in wages and benefits, according to Lazowska.
Virginia Led Nation
Employment in the technology industry in 2010 surpassed the finance and insurance industry, which employed 5.48 million people in 2010. Unemployment in the four high-tech sectors included in the report averaged 5.5 percent.
Virginia led the nation with the highest concentration of technology workers for the sixth consecutive year. Ninety-eight of every 1,000 private-sector workers in the state are employed in high-tech jobs. Eight states added technology jobs in 2010, including Michigan, West Virginia and Utah, along with the District of Columbia.
--Editors: Michael Shepard, Allan Holmes
To contact the reporter on this story: Juliann Francis in Washington at jfrancis31@bloomberg.net
To contact the editor responsible for this story: Michael Shepard at mshepard7@bloomberg.net
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Oct. 5 (Bloomberg) -- The U.S. high-technology industry lost 115,800 jobs in 2010, a 2 percent decline that marked the industry’s second consecutive year of falling employment.
The job losses were less than half the 249,500 positions eliminated in 2009, according to a report released today by the TechAmerica Foundation, a non-profit, non-partisan affiliate of the Washington-based trade group TechAmerica.
Three of the industry’s four sectors -- communications services, technology manufacturing and engineering and technology services -- lost jobs. Technology companies employed 5.75 million workers in 2010, according to the report, which was based on data from the U.S. Bureau of Labor Statistics.
Software services, which includes Microsoft Corp. and Google Inc., was the only industry sector to add jobs, expanding by 22,800 positions for an increase of 1 percent, according to the report.
“To restore job growth in the U.S. tech industry, the Unites States needs to focus on” fostering “a technically skilled workforce by educating American youth in math, science and engineering, and by welcoming -- not shunning -- highly skilled talent from across the globe,” Robert Bennett, chairman of the foundation, and Matthew Kazmierczak, senior vice president of the foundation, wrote in the report.
President Barack Obama has touted the technology industry as a vehicle for creating jobs to lower the nation’s 9.1 percent unemployment rate. As part of his $447 billion jobs proposal, Obama is pushing for policies supported by the technology industry that include science and math education reforms and the authorization of trade agreements with South Korea, Columbia and Panama.
Higher Wages
Technology industry positions pay a 93 percent higher wage than the typical private sector job, with the average high-tech worker earning $86,800 in 2010, according to the report. The best paid technology workers in 2010 were computer and peripheral equipment manufacturers, who brought in a $125,600 annual wage.
High-tech jobs comprised 10.5 percent of the total private sector payroll in the U.S. The increase in software services employment occurred as the sector “dominated” growth in the number of high-tech establishments by adding 5,800 businesses, according to the report.
On average, every new technology job supports three jobs in other sectors of the economy, according to Ed Lazowska, chairman of the Computer Science Department at the University of Washington in Spokane. The multiplier for information technology jobs is nearly 5 to 1 because jobs in the tech industry pay, on average, nearly double the state average in wages and benefits, according to Lazowska.
Virginia Led Nation
Employment in the technology industry in 2010 surpassed the finance and insurance industry, which employed 5.48 million people in 2010. Unemployment in the four high-tech sectors included in the report averaged 5.5 percent.
Virginia led the nation with the highest concentration of technology workers for the sixth consecutive year. Ninety-eight of every 1,000 private-sector workers in the state are employed in high-tech jobs. Eight states added technology jobs in 2010, including Michigan, West Virginia and Utah, along with the District of Columbia.
--Editors: Michael Shepard, Allan Holmes
To contact the reporter on this story: Juliann Francis in Washington at jfrancis31@bloomberg.net
To contact the editor responsible for this story: Michael Shepard at mshepard7@bloomberg.net
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