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About the Tech Industry

Cyberstates 2010 Key National Findings

(National employment data is for 2009; national wage data is for 2008)

• U.S. high-tech employment totaled 5.9 million in 2009.
• Tech employment was down in 2009 by 245,600, or by 4.0 percent, compared to a 5.2 percent decline in the private sector.
• High-tech manufacturing employment fell by 8.1 percent, losing 112,600 jobs between 2008 and 2009.
• The electronic components industry lost the most jobs of any manufacturing subsector, 37,100 in 2009, while space and defense systems manufacturing lost the least, with 1,200 jobs lost.
• All nine of the tech manufacturing sectors lost jobs between 2008 and 2009.
• The communications services sector continued to shed jobs in 2009, albeit at a faster pace, losing 53,000 compared to a loss of 11,000 in 2008.
• The software services sector lost 20,700 jobs in 2009, following five consecutive years of growth.
• The engineering and tech services sector lost 59,100 jobs in 2009, also following five consecutive years of growth.
• The unemployment rate for electrical engineers was 6.9 percent in 2009 and 6.1 percent for computer scientists and systems analyst.
• The tech industry paid an annual average wage of $84,400 in 2008, 86 percent more than the average private sector wage of $45,400.

U.S. High-Tech Employment

High-Tech Sector	2008	2009	Percent Change	Numeric Change
High-Tech Manufacturing	1,390,900	1,278,300	-8.1%	-112,600
Communications Services	1,361,700	1,308,800	-3.9%	-53,000
Software Services	1,706,400	1,685,700	-1.2%	-20,700
Engineering and Tech Services	1,652,000	1,592,900	-3.6%	-59,100
Total High Tech	6,111,000	5,865,400	-4.0%	-245,600

Cyberstates 2010 Key State Findings

(All state data is for 2008)

• The leading states by high-tech employment in 2008 were California (993,300), Texas (492,400), New York (312,300), Florida (292,300), and Virginia (283,400). 2008 data are the most recent available at the state level.
• California led the nation in net tech job creation in 2008, adding 15,700 jobs. The next largest gains occurred in Texas (+14,700), Washington (+9,300), Massachusetts (+6,300), and Virginia (+5,700).
• For the fourth straight year, Virginia led the nation in concentration of high-tech workers in 2008, with 95 high-tech workers per 1,000 private sector workers.
• Forty-seven cyberstates have annual average high-tech wages that are 50 percent or higher than the average private sector wage in their respective state, and five cyberstates have wages that are 100 percent higher.

Note: Data are rounded.

Source: Cyberstates 2010 is based on U.S. Bureau of Labor Statistics data.

For more information visit www.techamericafoundation.org/cyberstates.