AeA issues favorable figures for high-tech sector
By Staff -- Manufacturing Business Technology, 8/1/2007 12:00:00 AM
Most indices reflect positively that the high-tech industry is coming back from its collapse following the dot-com bust, according to AeA, the nation's largest trade association representing all segments of the industry.
AeA's CyberStates 2007 report confirms the industry added 147,000 new jobs in 2006—a 3-percent gain. Venture capital investments, after declining slightly in 2005, rose by $285 million to a total of $12.7 billion in 2006.
High-tech manufacturing showed a modest gain of 5,100 new jobs in 2006—the first net gain since 2001. Software and services, and engineering and tech services grew in 2006 for the third year in a row, adding 88,500 jobs and 66,300 jobs respectively.
The value of the high-tech industry to the U.S. economy is made abundantly clear in these other report findings:
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The high-tech sector leads the economy in exports and imports;
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High-tech employees are paid 86 percent more on average than those of other employees in the private sector; and
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The industry contributes more than a third of the total national investment in R&D, spending $71 billion—38 percent of the national total—in 2004.
While these are good numbers, it's not all positive.
“The industry is growing, but it would be growing faster if companies had greater ability to hire qualified workers,” maintains James. “We can't get enough qualified students coming out of our universities, or recruit enough foreign nationals. Unless we deal with this issue at the public policy level, our competitiveness in this area is at risk.”
The AeA is actively involved in legislative lobbying in support of national education initiatives, from encouraging more expansive programs in math and sciences to developing policies that enable increased access to foreign nationals attending U.S. universities and entering the country to fill unmet job demand.
More information on AeA and its CyberStates 2007 report can be found at www.aeanet.org
| Source: CyberStates 2007 report, AeA |
| U.S. high-tech employment totaled 5.77 million in 2006, up from 5.63 million in 2005. |
| The high-tech industry comprised 5.1 percent of the U.S. private-sector workforce in 2006. |
| Five of nine tech manufacturing sectors added jobs in 2006—most notably semiconductors, with a gain of 10,900. |
| The largest decline in tech manufacturing employment between 2005 and 2006 was in computer and peripheral equipment, with a loss of 6,200. |
| U.S. high-tech workers were paid an average wage of $75,500 in 2005, compared with a $40,500 private-sector average. |
| Software services employees earned higher average wages than technology manufacturing counterparts: $83,600 versus $77,600. |
