Tech Jobs and Investment Slide in Texas

Texas has been a national leader in technology industry development. Things were not so good there in the past year--not unlike the situation in most states, according to a recent AeA survey released recently.

Texas' technology industry employment dropped last year by 11 percent, or about 61,100 jobs, the second-highest decline for any state, according to a national survey to be released Wednesday.

Venture capital investments in Texas declined as well, falling 60 percent to $1.3 billion, according to the Cyberstates 2003 survey by AeA, a trade group based in Washington, D.C., and Santa Clara, Calif.

But things aren't completely bleak, said Clare Emerson, executive director of AeA's Texas Council.

Although the state is still losing tech jobs, technology exports from Texas are up, increasing $1.2 billion to $29.5 billion in 2002.

The AeA, formerly the American Electronics Association, compiles its employment reports from data from the U.S. Department of Labor.

Nationally, technology lost 540,000 jobs to about 6 million jobs in 2002, the report found.

California, Texas, Massachusetts, New Jersey and New York lost the greatest number of tech jobs. About 280,500 workers in those states became unemployed last year.

The sector with the largest decrease in jobs was electronics manufacturing, accounting for more than half of all tech jobs (233,000) lost between 2001 and 2002.

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