From the NY Times:
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High - Tech Jobs Dwindle by 12 Percent

November 19, 2003
  By THE ASSOCIATED PRESS

Filed at 12:19 a.m. ET

SAN FRANCISCO (AP) -- About 12 percent of the nation's
high-tech jobs have evaporated during the past two years,
but the meltdown appears to be in its final stages,
according to an industry report to be released Wednesday.

After wiping out 540,000 jobs in 2002, high-tech employers
are on pace to lay off another 234,000 workers this year,
based on figures compiled by the AeA, a trade group
formerly known as the American Electronics Association.

Based on the AeA's estimates, the high-tech industry will
end this year with about 5.73 million workers, down from
6.5 million employees at the end of 2001.

The 2002 contraction included 146,000 job losses in the
software sector, the first time employment in that
high-tech niche has fallen in the seven years that AeA has
been compiling its state-of-the-industry report.

California, long a high-tech magnet, accounted for 123,000
job losses in 2002, or 22 percent of the national total,
the AeA said. The study didn't provide a state-by-state
breakdown on the 2003 job cuts.

As hard hit as it was, California ended 2002 with 994,700
high-tech jobs -- more than twice as many as Texas, the
nation's second largest high-tech hub with 478,900
employees.

Wyoming was the nation's most sparsely populated high-tech
state, with 4,357 employees in the industry. Wyoming added
453 high-tech workers in 2002, joining Montana as the only
states where the industry's payroll increased. Montana
gained 68 high-tech workers in 2002.

Despite its woes, the high-tech industry remains one of the
nation's biggest private-sector employers and continues to
pay some of the best wages, with its workers earning an
average of $66,300 in 2001, the most recent year for which
the AeA had compensation data.

The high-tech industry's payroll totaled $433 billion in
2001, accounting for about 11 percent of the nation's
wages, the AeA said.

The AeA depicted this year's work force erosion as an
encouraging sign, noting that the projected job losses
represent a significant improvement from the 2002 purge.

With the improving economy helping boost corporate spending
on computer hardware and software, the high-tech industry
should begin adding jobs during the spring, predicted
William Archey, the AeA's president and chief executive
officer.

``There isn't going to be a massive infusion of new jobs
right away because companies have gotten used to operating
leaner and meaner,'' Archey said during an interview.

Although they remain cautious, high-tech companies
attending a recent AeA conference in San Diego were in a
better mood than at any time since the industry's painful
comedown began in late 2000, Archey said. ``Companies have
gone from being clinically depressed to rather upbeat.''

The recent signs of an upturn come as a relief for an
industry that has suffered greatly as company sales and
stock values have cratered.

Although crash began in 2000, the AeA doesn't have
comparable employment figures for that year because of
changes in the way the government classifies job
categories.

With the revisions, the AeA believes it has developed a
more precise measurement of high-tech employment that
includes several previously overlooked areas, including
fiber optic manufacturers and Internet portals such as
Yahoo! Inc.

^------

On The Net:

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http://www.nytimes.com/aponline/technology/AP-High-Tech-Jobs.html?ex=1070250368&ei=1&en=358df60c5cfc3f8f


Copyright 2003 The New York Times Company


--
Tom Brandt
Northtech Systems, Inc.
130 S. 1st Street, Suite 220
Ann Arbor, MI 48104-1343
http://www.northtech.com/

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