Despite recent layoffs, one in 10 workers is the highest rate in the nation.
The Seattle Times reported that the number of high-tech professionals in Washington State continues to increase, although recent layoffs have raged at dinosaur IT companies in the Seattle area, such as Microsoft, Amazon, Google, and Meta. The Times, citing a recent report by CompTIA, a national IT industry information analysis agency, explained that Washington State’s high-tech professionals account for one out of 10 workers (9.4%), outpacing the national average of 5.8%.Following Washington, DC (9.3%), Virginia (8.7%), Massachusetts (8.4%), Colorado (8.3%), New Hampshire (7.9%), Maryland (7.9%), California (7.7%), Utah (7.2%) %), Oregon (6.7%), etc. formed the top 10.
In Washington state, the number of workers employed by high-tech companies or in other skill-based jobs was close to 350,000 last year. More than 80% of these were concentrated in Greater Seattle, which includes Bellevue and Tacoma. According to the report, jobs created by IT companies in Washington state this year are also expected to record an increase of about 4%, the highest in the nation .In particular, the expected number of new jobs in high-tech new technologies such as artificial intelligence (AI) and blockchain is ranked first in the country, and the number of IT companies to be established this year is also included in the nation’s ‘Top 10’.
The ripple effect of the high-tech industry on the Washington state economy is $ 138 billion, accounting for 20% of the state’s entire economy. About 95% of this, or $131 billion, is concentrated in Metro Seattle, accounting for 30% of the local economy. Hi-tech workers in the region accounted for 12.9% of all workers, far above the state level (9.4%).
The only metropolitan city with a greater economic contribution from high-tech industries than metro Seattle is California’s San Jose Metro (57%), where Silicon Valley is located. The average rate of high-tech contribution among the 50 states nationwide is 8.8%. Thanks to Silicon Valley, California is getting an economic ripple effect of $535 billion from the high-tech industry, but this amount accounts for 17% of California’s total economy, which is lower than Washington (20%), and the proportion of workers in the high-tech industry is also high. of 7.7%, far behind Washington State (9.4%).
However, the Seattle Times reports that the proportion of blacks, Hispanics, and women among workers in Washington’s high-tech industries is the lowest in the nation, which means that high-tech jobs are relatively high-paying jobs that make it difficult for people of colour (excluding Asians) and female workers to benefit.