August 31, 2005 (The Editor’s Desk is updated each business day.)

High-technology employment

Employment in high-tech industries increased 7.5 percent over the 1992-2002 period, compared with 19.7 percent for the economy as a whole. Projections for 2002-12 show high-tech continuing to grow more slowly than employment overall—11.4 percent compared with 16.5 percent.

Percent increase in employment, high-technology and all industries, 1992-2002 and projected 2002-12
[Chart data—TXT]

During the period 1992-2002, high-tech industry employment declined from 12.2 percent to 11 percent of the total. By 2012, high-tech industries are projected to add 1.6 million jobs and account for 10.5 percent of total employment. Most of the projected growth is in eight service-providing industries, including five computer and related industries.

In this analysis, an industry is considered high tech if employment in technology-oriented occupations accounted for a proportion of that industry’s total employment that was at least twice the 4.9-percent average for all industries.

These data are from the BLS Employment Projections program. To learn more, see "High-technology employment: a NAICS-based update" by Daniel E. Hecker, Monthly Labor Review, July 2005.