Tech sector gained over 4,500 jobs last year, study shows

Wisconsin’s tech sector gained more than 4,500 jobs last year, according to the latest industry analysis from CompTIA.

The Cyberstates 2019 report also finds the sector’s overall economic output grew in 2018.

About 215,000 technology workers in the state make up about 7.1 percent of the Wisconsin workforce, the report shows. And the tech sector’s economic impact of $21.5 billion accounts for about 7.2 percent of the state’s economy.

Net employment in this area rose by 4,546 in 2018. Since 2010, net employment in Wisconsin’s tech fields has grown by 35,600.

“Clearly the broad-based impact of the tech industry touches virtually every community,  industry and market across Wisconsin, especially when you consider the hundreds of thousands of knowledge workers who rely on technology to do their jobs,” said Todd Thibodeaux, president and CEO of the nonprofit Computing Technology Industry Association.

Of all U.S. states, Wisconsin ranks 19th for net tech employment, 20th for net tech jobs added last year, and 25th for the “Cyberstates Innovation Score,” which takes into account venture capital investments, new businesses being created, tech startups and other variables.

Report authors say the sector’s employment outlook in Wisconsin is positive, predicting the state’s employment base for tech jobs will grow by 2.2 percent by 2026. And the state has seen a recent dramatic rise in the number of online job postings related to drones, artificial intelligence, blockchain, virtual reality and more.

Looking back at 2018, the top occupations for job growth in the state were: software and web developers, up 4 percent; computer system and cybersecurity analysts, up 3 percent; and network architects, administrators and support specialists, up 1 percent.

It’s also noted that tech workers in the state make more than the average Wisconsin worker. The median wage for these workers in the state is $66,815 — 64 percent higher than the median wage for all occupations.

On the national level, the median wage for tech occupations is nearly double the overall median wage. The U.S. tech sector employs 11.8 million workers, and added 261,000 new jobs last year.

The report estimates the national tech industry has $1.8 trillion in annual economic output, making up more than 10 percent of the entire U.S. economy.

See the full report: http://www.cyberstates.org/pdf/CompTIA_Cyberstates_2019.pdf