United States Tech Industry Employs 6.5 Million In 2014

CompTIA Releases Cyberstates 2015, Showing Employment Growth in 38 States

The U.S. tech industry added 129,600 net jobs between 2013 and 2014, for a total of nearly 6.5 million jobs in the U.S., according to Cyberstates 2015: The Definitive State-by-State Analysis of the U.S. Tech Industry published by CompTIA. The report represents a comprehensive look at tech employment, wages, and other key economic factors nationally and state-by-state, covering all 50 states, the District of Columbia, and Puerto Rico. This year’s edition shows that tech industry jobs account for 5.7 percent of the entire private sector workforce. Tech industry employment grew at the same rate as the overall private sector, 2 percent, between 2013-2014.

Growth was led by the IT services sector which added 63,300 jobs between 2013 and 2014 and the R&D, testing, and engineering services sector that added 50,700 jobs.

“The U.S. tech industry continues to make significant contributions to our economy,” said Todd Thibodeaux, president and CEO, CompTIA. “The tech industry accounts for 7.1 percent of the overall U.S. GDP and 11.4 percent of the total U.S. private sector payroll. With annual average wages that are more than double that of the private sector, we should be doing all we can to encourage the growth and vitality of our nation’s tech industry.”

An examination of tech job postings for the nation shows a year-over-year jump of more than 11 percent for technology occupations, with over 650,000 job openings in fourth quarter of 2014.

At the state level, Cyberstates shows that 38 states had an overall net increase of tech industry employment in 2014. The largest gains were in California (+32,900), Texas (+20,100), Florida (+12,500), Massachusetts (+8,700), and Michigan (+8,100). The states with the highest concentration of workers were Massachusetts (9.8% of private sector employment), Virginia (9.4%), Colorado (9.2%), Maryland (8.6%), and Washington (8.4%). The largest states by tech industry employment continues to be California, Texas, and New York.

“While California was a leading state for 12 of the 16 technology industry clusters, Cyberstates also shows clusters throughout the United States,” said Skip Newberry, president, Technology Association of Oregon and vice chairman, Technology Councils of North America TECNA). “The state of Washington leads the nation in software publishers employment and Texas leads in tech wholesalers and repair services. Oregon and Arizona have strong clusters in semiconductors. Virginia has one in computer systems design, a major component of IT services. Massachusetts is a serious powerhouse in R&D and testing labs. The U.S. tech industry spans the country from coast to coast.”

“The strength of the technology industry is built on the hard work, intellectual capital, high-value skills, and innovation of our nation’s technology workers,” said Newberry. “Tech workers are the life blood of our industry and as such we need to continue to do all that we can to ensure access to the best and the brightest workers in the world. This means focusing on STEM education, training and improving access to high-skilled immigrants. They are going to be the future drivers of our industry.”

Cyberstates 2015, in its 16th edition, relies primarily on data from the U.S. Bureau of Labor Statistics. The report provides 2014 national and state-by-state data on tech employment, wages, establishments, payroll, wage differential, employment concentration, economic output, and job openings. All data are the most recent available at the time of production. 2014 data are preliminary and subject to revisions.

Key National Findings from Cyberstates 2015:

• 6.5 million U.S. tech industry workers in 2014
• 129,600 net jobs added between 2013 and 2014
• Tech firms employed 5.7 percent of private sector workers in 2014
• Tech industry workers earned an average wage of $100,400, 102 percent more than the U.S. average private sector wage
• A tech industry payroll of $654B in 2014, accounting for over 11 percent of all U.S. private sector payroll
• 452,300 tech establishments in 2013
• 667,200 tech occupational job openings in Q4 2014
• 7.1 percent of the U.S. GDP is from the tech industry

U.S. Tech Industry Employment

Key State Findings from Cyberstates 2015:

• The leading states by tech industry employment were California (1.1 million), Texas (581,200), New York (346,500), Florida (307,100), and Massachusetts (286,300) in 2014.
• Fastest growing states by tech employment were California (+32,900), Texas (+20,100), and Florida (+12,500); by rate of growth were Nevada (+5.3%), Delaware (+5.2%), and Tennessee (+4.6%) in 2014
• Highest concentration of tech workers were in Massachusetts (9.8% of private sector workforce), Virginia (9.4%), Colorado (9.2%), Maryland (8.6%), and Colorado (8.4%)
• States with the highest average annual wage were California ($139,500), Massachusetts ($121,000), Washington ($119,300), New Jersey ($111,600), and the District of Columbia ($105,600)
• Eight states had tech wages that were on average more than twice that of the overall private sector wage. They are, in order of highest differential: California, Idaho, Washington, Oregon, Virginia, North Carolina, Arizona, and New Mexico

For a copy of Cyberstates 2015, please visit: http://www.comptia.org/resources/cyberstates-2015.

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