Pennsylvania Moves Up To Become the 7th Ranked Cyberstate
Pennsylvania’s High-Tech Industry Adds 6,400 Jobs in 2006

Clark, NJ (April 2, 2008) – AeA, the nation’s largest technology trade association representing all segments of the high-tech industry, today released its 11th annual Cyberstates report detailing national and state trends in high-tech employment, wages, and other key economic factors. The report, Cyberstates 2008: A Complete State-by-State Overview of the High-Technology Industry, covers all 50 states, the District of Columbia, and Puerto Rico.

Pennsylvania's high-tech industry added 6,400 net jobs – or three percent – in 2006, the most recent year state data are available. This moved Pennsylvania up one spot to become the 7th largest cyberstate, surpassing Illinois and employing 210,200 tech workers with a total payroll of $15.1 billion.

Pennsylvania’s growth in its high-tech services sectors helped propel it up to seventh. R&D and testing labs saw remarkable growth, adding 3,000 jobs, a nine percent rise in 2006. Following this were computer systems design and related services which added 1,700 jobs and engineering services which added 1,400 jobs.

Venture capital investments in Pennsylvania totaled $835 million in 2007, down two percent from $855 million in 2006. This ranks the state 6th nationwide by this metric.

"Pennsylvania's tech industry had tremendous growth, making us the seventh largest state by high-tech employment,” said Peter J. Boni, President and CEO of Safeguard Scientifics and a member of the national board of directors of AeA. "The Keystone State’s high-tech services sectors are the cornerstone of our growth. And the tech industry is attracted to Pennsylvania because of our high quality workers, affordable cost of living, and our world class universities, like Carnegie Mellon, University of Pennsylvania, Penn State, and University of Pittsburgh.”

“To ensure continued job growth,” continued Boni, “we need to remain focused on math, science, and technology education for our children and our workforce. And we need to encourage the federal government to expand investment in long-term basic research. These investments do not go directly to companies, but to our research universities. They then develop the science that leads to innovations and spawns new companies that generate those jobs." 

"We also need to support high skilled immigration policy," concluded Boni. "These foreign nationals who attend our world class universities can make huge contributions to our economy by working for our tech companies and universities when they graduate. Unfortunately, right now they face tremendous bureaucratic barriers to staying in the United States, which means that we lose out on the innovations and technology that they would have created."

Nationally, Cyberstates 2008 shows that the high-tech industry added jobs for the third consecutive year. Tech industry employment totaled 5.9 million, after adding 91,400 jobs in
2007. This is on top of job gains of 139,000 in 2006 and 87,400 in 2005.

This 11th edition of Cyberstates provides a comprehensive review of the high-tech industry nationally and state-by-state in terms of high-tech employment, wages, payroll, and establishments. Cyberstates also offers data on venture capital investments and R&D expenditures.

Two other major AeA cyber reports are forthcoming that analyze the U.S. high-tech industry: Cybercities 2008: An Overview of the High-Technology Industry in the Nation’s Top 60 Cities, and Trade in the Cyberstates 2008: A State-by-State Overview of High-Tech International Trade.

AeA members can purchase Cyberstates 2008 for $125; non-members for $250. Visit www.aeanet.org/cyberstates  to download the report, or call 408.987.4200.

What Does High Tech Mean for Pennsylvania?

• 210,200 high-tech workers in 2006 (7th ranked cyberstate)
   

• 6,400 jobs added between 2005 and 2006
   

• High-tech firms employed 43 of every 1,000 private sector workers in 2006, ranked 27th nationwide
   

• High-tech workers earned an average wage of $71,800 (21st ranked), or 75% more than Pennsylvania's average private sector wage
   

• A high-tech payroll of $15.1 billion in 2006, ranked 9th nationwide
   

• 12,000 high-tech establishments in 2006, ranked 8th nationwide
   

• Venture capital investments of $835 million in 2007, down 2% from $855 million in 2006, ranked 6th nationwide
   

• R&D expenditures of $10.9 billion in 2004, ranked 9th nationwide

Pennsylvania's National Industry Sector Rankings:

• 3rd in consumer electronics manufacturing employment with 1,700 jobs
   

• 5th in electronic component manufacturing employment with 11,100 jobs
   

• 6th in engineering services employment with 34,500 jobs

Source: Cyberstates 2008

Data are for 2006 unless otherwise noted.

2006 state data are the most current available for employment, wages, payroll, establishments, and industry sector jobs.

Published by AeA, Advancing the Business of Technology (www.aeanet.org)

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This page was last updated on 03/27/08.               
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