1 of Out of 11 Workers in Virginia in Tech Industry, Highest Concentration in the Nation, AeA Says

Third Straight Year of Fast Job Growth as Virginia Adds Nearly 10,000 Jobs

WASHINGTON, April 2, 2008 /PRNewswire-USNewswire/ -- 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.

Virginia's tech industry grew by four percent, adding 9,800 jobs for a total of 270,800 in 2006, the most recent year available. This is the third consecutive year of ranking among the top five states by tech job growth for Virginia. This growth helps solidify Virginia's placement as the state with the highest concentration of technology workers, with 9.1 percent of its private sector workforce in the tech industry. These jobs pay nearly twice as much as the average private sector job in Virginia.

Virginia's growth is overwhelmingly attributable to its high-tech services sectors. The state's largest sector is computer systems design and related services which employs 119,100 people, up 10,300 jobs in 2006, which also was ranked 2nd nationwide, only after California. While Virginia's second largest sector, engineering services, added 700 net jobs, the state continued to shed telecommunications jobs (-1,000) and Internet services jobs (-800) in 2006.

Venture capital investments in Virginia rose by 16 percent for a total of $463 million in 2007, up from $400 million in 2006. This ranks the state 13th nationwide by this metric.

"What many people don't realize -- even many Virginians -- is that Virginia is the 5th largest high-tech state in the nation," said Matthew Kazmierczak, Vice President of Research and Industry Analysis, AeA. "Our tech industry is thriving. In order to maintain this growth we need to make sure that the lifeblood of our industry, our highly skilled and highly educated workers, is available. Right now the United States isn't doing enough to educate the next generation of programmers, scientists, and engineers. And the stop gap measure of allowing in the best and the brightest from around the world has become a bureaucratic nightmare. The unfortunate effect of these failures is that job creation could be higher, but is being stymied because of bad public policy."

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 http://www.aeanet.org/cyberstates to download the report, or call 408.987.4200.

What Does High Tech Mean for Virginia?

-- 270,800 high-tech workers in 2006 (5th ranked cyberstate)
-- 9,800 jobs added between 2005 and 2006

-- High-tech firms employed 91 of every 1,000 private sector workers in 2006, ranked 1st nationwide

-- High-tech workers earned an average wage of $86,400 (6th ranked), or 98 percent more than Virginia's average private sector wage

-- A high-tech payroll of $23.4 billion in 2006, ranked 4th nationwide
-- 14,800 high-tech establishments in 2006, ranked 6th nationwide

-- Venture capital investments of $463 million in 2007, up 16 percent from $400 million in 2006, ranked 13th nationwide

-- R&D expenditures of $7.9 billion in 2004, ranked 13th nationwide

Virginia's National Industry Sector Rankings:

-- 2nd in computer systems design and related systems employment with 119,100 jobs

-- 4th in engineering services employment with 51,500 jobs
-- 5th in internet services employment with 19,300 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)

About AeA

AeA, the nation's largest technology trade association, representing all segments of the high-tech industry, is dedicated solely to helping our members' top line and bottom line. We do this in partnership with our small, medium, and large member companies by lobbying governments at the state, federal, and international levels, providing access to capital and business opportunities, and offering select business services and networking programs. For more information, please visit http://www.aeanet.org/.

CONTACT: Gregory Poersch of AeA, +1-202.682.9110, Gregory_Poersch@aeanet.org

First Call Analyst:
FCMN Contact:

Source: AeA

CONTACT: Gregory Poersch of AeA, +1-202.682.9110,
Gregory_Poersch@aeanet.org

Web Site: http://www.aeanet.org/

2008-04-01 23:06:43 0325626 PRNEWSWIRE