Warren, New Jersey, November 19, 2003—Pennsylvania’s high-technology industry lost nearly 20,000 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 moved to eighth place nationwide by high-tech employment in 2002. Despite its loss in jobs, neighboring New Jersey lost far more, pushing it to 9^th place.

Cyberstates 2003 shows that Pennsyvlania’s tech industry employment dropped by 8 percent, falling to 219,000 in 2002. The state’s electronics manufacturing sector lost 13,000 jobs in 2002. The data reveal one bright spot; employment in the R&D and testing labs industry increased by 4 percent last year, adding more than 1,000 jobs.

Cyberstates 2003 also examines tech exports and venture capital investments. Pennslyvania exported $2.6 billion worth of high-tech goods in 2002, compared to $3.8 billion in 2001, a drop of 30 percent. Similarly, venture capital investments in Pennsylvania dropped by 55 percent, falling from $945 million in 2001 to $422 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-by-state trends in employment, wages, exports, venture capital investments and research and development (R&D) expenditures. Cyberstates 2003 is based on the most current U.S. government data available.

What Does High Tech Mean for Pennsylvania?

• High-tech firms employ 46 of every 1,000 private sector workers in 2002, ranked 28^th nationwide

• High-tech workers earned an average wage of $58,393 (20^th ranked), or 69% more than the average private sector wage

• High-tech exports totaled $2.6 billion in 2002, ranked 13^th nationwide

• R&D expenditures of $9.8 billion in 2000, ranked 9^th nationwide

Pennsylvania’s National Industry Segment Rankings:

• 6^th in Internet services employment with 21,800 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.