Benefits June 7, 2001

Tech Firms Expand Despite Headlines

June 7, 2001 (PLANSPONSOR.com) - Despite the screaming headlines, last year the high-tech industry added a net 234,761 jobs - a 4.6% increase from a year earlier.
Reported by

However, that was the slowest growth rate since 1995’s 4.3% pace according to a new study from AeA and NASDAQ titled “Cyberstates 2001.”

In the last five years, the high-tech industry created 1.3 million new jobs, with California accounting for nearly one-fourth of the growth.

State Slots

California fared better than the rest of the nation last year, adding some 101,080 jobs a 10% increase from the prior year. Second-place Texas now has 440,718 workers in the sector, a 4% increase in 2000. The rest of the top five:

  • New York (339,131 jobs, up 1%)
  • Massachusetts (233,848 jobs, up 5%)
  • Florida (231,413 jobs, up 6%)

High-tech California workers were also high-paid, garnering an average of $83,103 in 1999 ? up 22% from 1998 totals. Only those in Microsoft’s home state of Washington earned more an average 1999 wage of $134,009, up 24% from the prior year.

On a national basis, high-tech workers received a 10% boost for an average pay of $64,863, nearly twice the average wage of $33,220 paid in all private-sector jobs.

Those compensation numbers include salary, bonuses and stock options which are likely to pull those averages down this year.

«