TechAmerica Foundation today released a report based on U.S. Bureau of Labor Statistics data that shows the U.S. high-tech industry added 30,200 jobs between January and June of 2010, a 0.5 percent gain. The report looks at four sectors within the high-tech industry: tech manufacturing, communications services, software services, and engineering and tech services.
“Though the tech industry was among the last to feel the effects of the economic downturn of 2008 – 2009, it was not immune to job loss and is only slowly showing signs of climbing out of it,” said Josh James, Vice President, Research and Industry Analysis, TechAmerica Foundation. “Tech employment as of June 2010 stood at 5.78 million, compared to 5.99 million in January 2009. So there is still a way to go before we’ve made up for lost jobs, and continued recovery is by no means certain. With job growth in three of the four tech sectors, we remain guardedly optimistic.”
“As one of the last industries to feel the effects of the recession, the technology industry is now appears to be slowly turning the corner with the rest of the economy,” said TechAmerica President and CEO Phil Bond. “We have weathered the storm better than most. From its position embedded in every other industry, technology remains the best hope for driving robust recovery across the economy. America can only realize the full promise of an innovation recovery with smarter public policies focused on developing and attracting the best talent, investing in research and development, and growing and securing our information infrastructure.”
The technology industry continued to add jobs until the last quarter of 2008, by which time much of the rest of the private sector was already well into recession.
Over the most recent six months, high-tech manufacturing in the United States once again added jobs, reversing the downward trend. Technology manufacturers added 9,100 net jobs in the first half of 2010, for a total of 1.24 million tech manufacturing jobs in June – a 0.7 percent gain.
Two of the three high-tech services sectors added jobs in the first six months of 2010: software services (+14,200) and engineering and tech services (+29,700). Communications services, which includes Internet and telecom companies, shed 22,800 jobs from January to June of 2010.
On a year-to-year basis, from June 2009 through June 2010, tech lost 72,800 jobs, a 1.2 percent workforce decline. Over the same time period the U.S. private sector shed 334,000 jobs – 0.3 percent decline.
All data are compiled from the U.S. Bureau of Labor Statistics’ Current Employment Survey and are preliminary, subject to revision, and not adjusted for seasonal variances. This report is not comparable to TechAmerica Foundation’s annual Cyberstates or Cybercities reports.
This report, as well as all installments of the TechAmerica Foundation Competitiveness Series, can be downloaded for free at: www.techamericafoundation.org/
