Region ranks No. 2 in high tech jobs

WASHINGTON - The economy may be hurting in some areas, but the high-tech industry in the Washington region is booming.

A new report from American Electronics Association, the nation's largest technology trade association, places the D.C. area at No. 2 for having the most high-tech jobs in the nation. The 2006 data are the most recent available.

The region currently employs 295,800 tech workers, and added 6,100 of these jobs in 2006 alone. The number is more than the region employed at the peak of the dot-com boom in 2001.

These jobs also are high-paying. The average tech worker in D.C. makes $92,700 per year, 67 percent more than the metro area's average private sector wage.

"The region benefits from a highly educated workforce and access to major research centers," says Matthew Kazmierczak, research and industry analyst for AeA.

The report also finds that 13 percent of private sector workers in the region work in the high-tech industry. The area ranked first in the nation for employment in computer systems design and related services (137,100 workers), first in engineering services (44,400 jobs) and second in testing labs (40,200 jobss).

"In the National Capital Region, government agencies and local industries continue to benefit from the expanding role of high technology," says Jeffrey Holmes, director of PRTM, in a news release.

"This area is unique in that it can meld the superb capabilities of the commercial sector with federal, state and local governments to create public-private partnerships that are able to address many significant issues affecting our region and the Nation at large."

The report defined the Washington region as D.C., Maryland, Virginia and West Virginia. It included data from the following Maryland counties: Calvert; Charles; Frederick; Montgomery; and Prince George's. Additionally, the following cities and counties in Virginia were included Alexandria, Arlington, Clarke, Fairfax, Fauquier, Loudoun, Prince William, Spotsylvania, Stafford and Warren. High tech jobs in Jefferson County, W. Va, also were included.

The report, titled Cybercities 2008, tracks trends in high-tech employment, wages, establishments, payroll, employment concentration and wage differential in the nation's top 60 cities.

The following cities ranked as the top five cybercities for high-tech employment in 2006:

1. New York City, 316,500 workers;
2. D.C., 295,800 workers;
3. San Jose/Silicon Valley, Calif., 225,300 workers;
4. Boston, 191,700 workers;
5. Dallas-Fort Worth, 176,000 workers.

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