High-technology employment
August 31, 2005
Employment in high-tech industries increased 7.5 percent over the 1992-2002 period, compared with 19.7 percent for the economy as a whole. Projections for 2002-12 show high-tech continuing to grow more slowly than employment overall—11.4 percent compared with 16.5 percent.
[Chart data—TXT]
During the period 1992-2002, high-tech industry employment declined from 12.2 percent to 11 percent of the total. By 2012, high-tech industries are projected to add 1.6 million jobs and account for 10.5 percent of total employment. Most of the projected growth is in eight service-providing industries, including five computer and related industries.
In this analysis, an industry is considered high tech if employment in technology-oriented occupations accounted for a proportion of that industry’s total employment that was at least twice the 4.9-percent average for all industries.
These data are from the BLS Employment Projections program. To learn more, see "High-technology employment: a NAICS-based update" by Daniel E. Hecker, Monthly Labor Review, July 2005.
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United States Department of Labor
