tech carolina north added employment percent industry

North Carolina among top high tech job-producing statesby Jack Gallop, North Carolina Business News Wire — March 26, 2019RALEIGH — North Carolina was one of the country’s leaders in total amount oftech jobs added in 2018, according to a study released Tuesday.With a net tech employment gain of 13,773, North Carolina ranked fourth behindCalifornia (51,567), Florida (18,147) and Texas (17,855). Just behind NorthCarolina was New York (13,732).On a percentage change basis, North Carolina ranked third among all states intech job growth at 4 percent. The Tar Heel state was ranked only behind Utah(4.3 percent) and New Hampshire (4.2 percent).Nevada (4 percent) andWashington (3.5 percent) rounded out the top five.Among the North Carolina tech companies that added jobs in the past year werePendo, a Raleigh-based software company that added 590 jobs, and AveXis, aDurham-based biotechnology company that added 200 jobs.In the U.S., net tech employment grew by an estimated 260,865 jobs in 2018, a2.3 percent increase over 2017. With 11.8 million workers across the country,net tech employment accounts for approximately 7.6 percent of the nation’sworkforce. Since 2010, the industry has added an estimated 1.9 million newjobs.The tech sector has an estimated direct economic impact of $1.8 trillion, orabout 10 percent of the total U.S. economy, making it one of the economy’slargest industries.“Clearly the broad-based impact of the tech industry touches virtually everycommunity, industry and market across the country, especially when youconsider the tens of millions of knowledge workers who rely on technology todo their jobs,” said Todd Thibodeaux, president and chief executive officer ofCompTIA, which conducted the study.CompTIA is a technology industry association that annually publishes techsector and tech workforce analytics.The outlook for future employment growth remains positive. It’s projected thattech employment will grow to 8.6 million by 2026. Retirements will put evenmore pressure to meet the need for tech talent.In 2018, the median tech occupation wage was $81,907, which is 92 percenthigher than the median national wage for all occupations.Employer job postings for workers with skills in emerging technologiesincreased by 74 percent from 2017 to 2018, a signal that many companies arepreparing now for the innovations that will shape their future.This story is from the North Carolina Business News Wire, a service of UNC-Chapel Hill’s School of Media and JournalismArticle Source: WRAL TechWire