Washington, DC, November 19, 2003—Michigan’s high-technology industry lost more than 10,000 jobs between 2001 and 2002, according to Cyberstates 2003: A State-by-State Overview of the High-Technology Industry, a new analytical report released today by AeA. The state’s high-tech employment ranking moved up to 10^th place nationwide in 2002, from 11^th in 2001.

Cyberstates 2003 shows that Michigan’s tech industry dropped by 5 percent in 2002 to 191,000 workers. While the state’s high-tech manufacturing sector by employment was down by 10 percent, the R&D and Testing Labs industry added nearly 4,000 jobs, or an increase of 10 percent.

"The latest Cyberstates data clearly show that Michigan’s high-tech industry was hit hard last year, but there are some encouraging signs," said Matthew Kazmierczak, AeA’s Senior Manager, Research. "As the data show, there was a jump in R&D and testing labs employment last year."

Cyberstates 2003 also examines tech exports and venture capital investments. Michigan exported $1.8 billion worth of high-tech goods in 2002, compared to $1.7 billion in 2001, a 2 percent drop. Similarly, venture capital investments in Michigan dropped by nearly 40 percent, falling from $124 million in 2001 to $76 million in 2002.

Nationally, Cyberstates 2003 shows that high-tech employment fell by 540,000 jobs, dropping to 6 million in 2002. However, using preliminary data, we estimate that the tech industry will lose 234,000 jobs in 2003.

For the first time, Cyberstates 2003 is based on the newly implemented North American Industry Classification System (NAICS). This more current and comprehensive system allows us to capture several sectors, which we could not with the previous system. These include fiber optic cable manufacturers, semiconductor machinery manufacturers, and web search portals. Consequently, the data presented in this report are not comparable in any way to previous editions of Cyberstates.

Cyberstates 2003 is the seventh edition of AeA’s Cyberstates reports. The study includes seven chapters detailing national and state trends in employment, wages, and exports. Venture capital investments and research and development (R&D) expenditures are also examined. The report includes state rankings for each indicator. Cyberstates 2003 is based on the most current U.S. government data available.

What Does High Tech Mean for Michigan?

• High-tech firms employ 51 of every 1,000 private sector workers in 2002, ranked 22^nd nationwide

• High-tech workers earned an average wage of $65,341 (13^th ranked), or 74% more than the average private sector wage

• High-tech exports totaled $1.8 billion in 2002, ranked 22^nd nationwide

• R&D expenditures of $18.9 billion in 2000, ranked 2^nd nationwide

Michigan’s National Industry Segment Rankings:

• 11^th in computer systems design and related services employment with 40,900 jobs

Source: Cyberstates 2003
Data are for 2002 unless otherwise noted.
2001 data are the most current for wages, payroll, establishments, and industry segment jobs.