Synopsis of the American Electronics Association's Report, <i>Cyberstates 2002: A State by State Overview of the High-Technology Industry</i> by Michaela D. Platzer, et al.

Synopsis of the American Electronics Association's Report, Cyberstates 2002: A State by State Overview of the High-Technology Industry by Michaela D. Platzer, et al.

introduction by: Craig Radden Henderson, BLS Program Supervisor, Research & Planning

For each of the past six years, the American Electronics Association (AEA) has elicited summary industry information including data on employment, establishments, payroll, and wages from Wyoming and other states’ labor market information offices for its annual report, Cyberstates: A State-by-State Overview of the High-Technology Industry.¹ With permission, Research & Planning (R&P) adapted the following synopsis from key industry statistics for Wyoming contained in the Cyberstates 2002 edition. Interested readers are encouraged to seek out the full copyrighted report, which is national in scope and contains comparative statistical information for all states.

This report exemplifies how voluntary employer responses to industry surveys enable R&P to collect and maintain current and accurate data on Wyoming’s industries, labor force, and economy. The data are used to generate summary statistical information to support diverse economic and workforce development needs. As past editions of Wyoming Labor Force Trends attest, R&P often partners with other agencies and states, Wyoming colleges, and the private sector on a wide variety of research projects.

As a reminder to our readers, in December R&P sends Industry Verification Statements (annually, on a revolving basis over a three-year period) to one-third of all Wyoming business establishments covered by State Unemployment Insurance. One aim of this refiling process is to receive industry updates from Wyoming employers such as whether or not the primary nature of an existing business has changed. We encourage Wyoming employers to continue their excellent record of responding to this survey and others like it. It reflects their commitment to ensuring a sound basis for Wyoming labor market research in order to support national, State, and local decision making.

Synopsis

“[Nationally,] after years of strong employment growth in the high-tech industry, job growth slowed considerably in 2001. A precipitous decline in venture capital investments in technology last year had a dampening effect on the tech industry. Furthermore, technology exports declined by 15 percent in 2001. Given these factors, the outlook for 2002 remains uncertain.”²

Wyoming and the High-Tech Industry³

For Wyoming, 2001 industry statistics show that high-tech jobs numbered 2,422 and were distributed among 370 establishments. Wyoming ranked last (52nd) in high-tech employment among all states, the District of Columbia, and Puerto Rico. Payroll totaled approximately $108 million with the average wage in the State’s high-tech industries reported at $45,211. This compares to the average private-sector wage in Wyoming of $26,502.

From 1995 to 2001, high-tech employment trends for Wyoming indicated positive growth of 600 jobs (32%), with over-the-year job growth for the last year of analysis, 2000 to 2001, of only 34 jobs (1.4%); see Figure. Leading high-tech industry segments in the national growth period 1995-2000, communications services grew from 1,200 to 1,600 jobs [33%]; data processing and information services grew from 100 to 200 jobs [100%]; and software services grew from 100 to 200 jobs [100%].

Among all states, Wyoming ranked 46th in Research and Development per capita and 23rd in home Internet access. U.S. Bureau of the Census data showed that 58.5 percent of Wyoming homes had computers and 51.4 percent had Internet access in September 2001.⁴

¹American Electronics Association, Cyberstates 2002: A State-by-State Overview of the High-Technology Industry, 2002. For more information, see the website for the American Electronics Association at <http://www.aeanet.org>.

²American Electronics Association, p. 2.

³American Electronics Association, p. 111.

⁴American Electronics Association, p. 129.

Editors’ Note - The 2001 average annual employment projections for Wyoming published in Cyberstates 2002 were based on statewide data for Standard Industry Classification (SIC) codes 357, 365, 366, 367, 382, 386, 381, 3844, 3845, 481, 482, 484, 489, and 737. Research & Planning was only able to share summary employer data for the first three quarters of 2001. According to the author, the use of employment projections based on state trends were necessary because most states’ data for the fourth quarter of 2001 were not yet available prior to publication deadlines.

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