U.S. tech industry added 190,000 jobs in 18 months: AeA report

FEDERAL DATA data, released as part of an ongoing competitiveness survey, shows the U.S.’s tech sector added nearly 190,000 jobs, a 3.4% increase between January 2004 and June 2005. This data, collected by the U.S. Bureau of Labor Statistics and compiled by AeA (formerly the American Electronics Association) as part of its Competitiveness Series, indicate that the tech sector has generated a net increase in jobs over the last six-, 12- and 18-month periods."The data confirm our suspicion that the high-tech industry has recovered from the bursting of the tech bubble of 2000-2001," says William Archey, AeA’s president and CEO. "While industry growth is by no means explosive, the rise in high-tech jobs has been steady, and we find it encouraging that even tech manufacturing experienced a small increase. After precipitous declines in 2001 and 2002, job losses began to slow, but only now are we witnessing actual gains. This benefits our economy as a whole because tech jobs pay 84% more than the average private sector job." At the individual-sector level, technology manufacturers added 21,800 net jobs in the U.S. from January 2004 to June 2005 for a total of 1.36 million jobs, a 1.6% increase. This was the first growth in tech manufacturing employment since 2000. Tech services providers added 167,000 net jobs over the same period for a total of 4.36 million jobs, a 4% rise. Within this sector, engineering and tech services added the most jobs, 100,800, followed by software services with employment growth of 75,600 jobs. Only communications services experienced a decline, losing 9,400 jobs. “We’re pleased to see these positive trends,” continued Archey. “However, continued growth of the U.S. tech sector is linked to our overall competitiveness in science and technology. While the U.S. remains pre-eminent in these spheres, our lead is slipping. Once we start addressing this issue, it will only enhance job growth in our industry. We need to renew our commitments to research and development, an educated workforce, and high-skilled immigration. The rest of the world is catching up to us and its time we start realizing that.” The reports are free and available online at www.aeanet.org/research.