San Jose Leads in High-Tech Wages POSTED June 26, 2008 SANTA CLARA -- San Jose has the highest wages in the nation for technology workers. AeA, the nation"s largest technology trade association representing all segments of the high-tech industry, released Cybercities 2008: An Overview of the High-Technology Industry in the Nation's Top 60 Cities. This detailed report tracks trends in high-tech employment, wages, establishments, payroll, employment concentration, and wage differential at the metropolitan level. The high-tech industry in the Bay Area totaled 386,200 in 2006, according to the most current metropolitan data available. The Bay Area combines the three metro areas of San Francisco, San Jose/Silicon Valley, and Oakland. While San Jose had the majority of these tech industry jobs (225,300), San Francisco's and Oakland's were also significant at 79,400 and 81,400. San Jose had the highest concentration of tech workers with more than one in four private sector workers in the metro area employed by the tech industry. In both San Francisco and Oakland more than nine percent of the private sector workforce was employed by tech companies. By high-tech wages, San Jose, San Francisco, and Oakland ranked first, second, and fourth in the nation at $144,800, $118,500, and $96,900,respectively, in 2006. When examining employment by high-tech industry sectors, San Jose ranked near the top in seven of the nine high-tech manufacturing categories, including semiconductors, computer and peripheral equipment, electronic components, and communications equipment. San Francisco ranked second nationwide by software publishers with 11,500 workers in this sector. Oakland had 17,300 people working in computer systems design and related services in 2006. "AeA's Cybercities report places the Bay Area as the epicenter of the tech industry," said Ed Keible, CEO of Endwave Corporation. "Combining Oakland, San Francisco, and San Jose, we are the largest technology cluster in the nation. I believe that the Bay Area is attractive to the tech industry because of our world-class research universities, large pool of talented and technical workers, availability of capital, and a quality of life that is hard to beat." "While tech job growth was up in 2006 for the entire Bay Area, today the region is struggling to find the right workers with the required technical skills," continued Mr. Keible. "Our government should be doing all it can to keep innovation in America by improving the high-skilled visa and green card processes for skilled foreign tech employees, particularly those educated in the U.S. It hurts our worldwide competitiveness to not allow these talented individuals to remain in the U.S. In fact, 25 percent of all new companies in Silicon Valley have a foreign national as a founder. To not allow such individuals to remain in the U.S. hurts our job creation capabilities." Cybercities 2008 shows that the top five cybercities by high-tech employment in 2006 were the New York Metro Area, Washington, DC, San Jose/Silicon Valley, Boston, and Dallas-Fort Worth. The nation"s highest tech industry concentration was in San Jose/Silicon Valley, where more than one in four private sector workers were employed by the tech industry. Seattle saw the largest tech industry employment growth, adding 7,800 jobs in 2006. What Does High Tech Mean for San Jose/Silicon Valley? - 225,300 high-tech workers in 2006 (3rd ranked cybercity) - 5,900 jobs gained between 2005 and 2006 (4th ranked cybercity) - High-tech firms employed 286 of every 1,000 private sector workers in 2006 (1st ranked cybercity) - High-tech workers earned an average wage of $144,800 (1st ranked), or 82 percent more than San Jose"s average private sector wage - A high-tech payroll of $32.6 billion in 2006 (1st ranked cybercity) - 5,500 high-tech establishments in 2006 (12th ranked cybercity) San Jose's National Industry Sector Rankings: - 1st in semiconductor manufacturing employment with 37,900 jobs - 1st in computer and peripheral equipment manufacturing employment with 33,200 jobs - 3rd in computer systems design and related services employment with 46,400 jobs What Does High Tech Mean for the Bay Area (Combining San Francisco, San Jose, and Oakland)? - 386,200 high tech workers - 9,300 jobs gained between 2005 and 2006 - High-tech payroll of $49.9 billion in 2006 - Average wage: $129,300 - 13,100 high-tech establishments in 2006 What Does High Tech Mean for San Francisco? - 79,400 high-tech workers in 2006 (19th ranked cybercity) - 2,700 jobs gained between 2005 and 2006 (12th ranked cybercity) - High-tech firms employed 94 of every 1,000 private sector workers in 2006 (13th ranked cybercity) - High-tech workers earned an average wage of $118,500 (2nd ranked), or 73 percent more than San Francisco"s average private sector wage - A high-tech payroll of $9.4 billion in 2006 (13th ranked cybercity) - 3,600 high-tech establishments in 2006 (20th ranked cybercity) San Francisco's National Industry Sector Rankings: - 2nd in software publishers employment with 11,500 jobs - 10th in computer systems design and related services employment with 26,600 jobs - 11th in R&D and testing labs employment with 12,800 jobs Notes: San Francisco = Marin, San Francisco, and San Mateo Counties in California. 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