Computer Outpaces Combine In Economy Technology Now Bigger Job-Producer Than Natural Resources In Washington

The computer has become mightier than the combine in the Washington economy, a new study shows.

One-third of the jobs in this state come from technology-based industries, which now represent a larger sector of the economy than natural resource industries such as agriculture and forest products, according to the study by two University of Washington geographers.

The study was prepared for the Technology Alliance, a non-profit group of technology businesses and researcher institutions, by geographers Bill Beyers and David Lindahl.

Beyers said the study was more evidence of the changing nature of the state’s economy.

“We’ve evolved from a state where natural resource industries were our economic heart into a more diversified economy,” Beyers told the Seattle Post-Intelligencer in a story published Thursday.

“Today these parts of our economy are growing fast, and these are good-paying jobs - they’re the kind of jobs we talk about wanting to create.”

The study is a broad look at the importance of technology-intensive businesses in the state and could become a point of reference in public policy debates and plans for spending state money.

“It clarifies a phenomenon that’s important for us who live in Washington state to be aware of - that we’ve got an important and growing sector which needs to be nurtured,” said attorney William Gates, chairman of the alliance and the father of Microsoft Corp. co-founder Bill Gates.

In the study, Beyers and Lindahl defined, using standard classifications, technology-based industries as those in which at least 10 percent of employment is related to research and development.

The technology category includes not only obvious choices such as engineering services, computer services and software, but also management and public relations, agricultural chemicals, motor vehicles and petroleum refining which have a large R&D component.

It also included the aerospace industry, which is technology intensive with more than 30 percent of employees involved in research and development.

Direct employment in technology-based industries in Washington totals 230,947, the study shows. Each of these jobs generates an average 2.37 additional jobs in services, trade and other industries for a total of 778,300 jobs resulting directly and indirectly from technology-based businesses.

Washington ranks sixth in relative concentration of those industries, behind the District of Columbia, Massachusetts, Connecticut, California and Michigan, according to the study.

Technology-based industries generate $41.8 billion in direct sales revenue and $74.2 billion when indirect sales are included, the study shows. Direct labor income totals $12 billion, while indirect labor adds $13.8 billion more.

Technology-based jobs have grown dramatically in the last two decades, from 93,000 private-sector positions in 1974 to 220,000 in 1995, plus another 11,000 government jobs, the study shows.

While some of the growth occurs with spin-off ventures as businesses grow more sophisticated, some of it also is associated with external influences, such as first-class universities and topnotch research institutions, Gates said.

“You need to be sure you’ve got the kind of place where professional people want to come and live,” he said.