U.S. Tech Industry adds 118,500 jobs in first half of 2007

The American Electronics Association today said that the U.S. high-tech industry added 118,500 jobs between January and June of 2007, a 2% rise, for a total of 5.94 million workers.  This is slightly less than the 143,000 tech jobs added in the first half of 2006.   The AEA released as employment study based on government data from the U.S. Bureau of Labor Statistics that shows the January to June 2007 tech job growth lags that of the U.S. private sector, which rose by 3.3% over that period.  The report looks at four sectors within the high-tech industry: high-tech manufacturing, communications services, software services, and engineering and tech services. This is the first year since the bursting of the high-tech bubble that all four tech sectors are experiencing job growth, the AeA said. High-tech manufacturing employment in the United States is up in the first six months of 2007.  Technology manufacturers added 1,800 net jobs in the United States from January to June of 2007 for a total of 1.34 million jobs.   High-tech services employment in the United States is also up, adding 116,600 net jobs in the United States from January to June of 2007.  This represents a 2.6 percent rise.  Within tech services, the most significant growth occurred in engineering and tech services, which added 52,600 jobs, a 3.3% rise.  Software services added 51,100 jobs, also a 3.3% rise.  Communications services increased by 12,900 jobs, or 1 percent, from January to June of 2007.  The high-tech hiring news comes a day after the AeA released numbers showing Florida to be a high-tech hotbed.  Florida's statewide high-tech industry employment added 10,900 net jobs, or by four percent, for a tech industry total of 276,400 jobs in 2005, the most current state data available. This makes Florida the 4th ranked cyberstate by tech industry employment and the 2nd fastest growing cyberstate in the country, the AeA said. If you want to know what you should be making, take a look at Network World’s  Salary Survey and  Calculator here. “As good as this news is, we continue to believe tech industry job growth would be even more robust if U.S. policymakers were dealing with the challenges posed by heightened global competition and the lack of available qualified workers,” said AeA’s President and CEO, William T. Archey in a statement.  “Congress and the President acknowledged these challenges by passing the America Competes Act in August.  This legislation – which passed with overwhelming bipartisan support – expands programs to attract undergraduates to pursue degrees in science, technology, engineering, and math (STEM) and introduces creative programs to enhance the capabilities of math and science teachers.  The tech industry desperately needs this talent.  Companies continue to have thousands of unfilled positions across the country.  It is now up to Congress and the President to fully fund the America Competes Act.” We should be attracting, not shunning, the best and brightest talent from around the world, either through temporary H-1B visas or permanent employment-based green cards.  Instead, the United States places arbitrary caps on H-1Bs and imposes a time consuming, bureaucratic process on obtaining green cards, Archey said.