Washington’s High-Tech Workers Pocket Highest Pay At $57,555, Average Annual Wage Is Nearly $1,600 Higher Than No. 2 New Jersey

Good news if you’re working in Washington’s technology industry: This state’s high-tech workers earn the largest paychecks of any technology employees in the country.

But the state still has a long way to go to catch the likes of California, New York and Texas in total high-tech employment.

Those are two findings of a recent study by the American Electronics Association, a technology-industry group.

The study, based on federal employment figures taken from the U.S. Department of Labor’s Bureau of Labor Statistics between 1990 and 1995, compares Washington’s technology industry with that of other states.

First, that paycheck: $57,555 annually on average. It’s no surprise that number is high, largely because of this state’s concentration of software jobs, which typically pay more than computer-hardware manufacturing jobs. Washington’s average tops No. 2 New Jersey at $55,970, and No. 3 California at $55,160.

Washington also ranks high in growth of its high-tech jobs between 1990 and 1995, according to the study. The state added 18,516 jobs for a total of 78,920, a 30 percent increase. It ranked fourth among all states in the number of jobs created.

In total high-tech jobs, however, the state ranks 18th. California, with 669,349, and Texas, with 313,460, lead the pack.

The AEA defined the technology industry according to standard industrial classification, or SIC, codes. The report includes companies from 45 of these business codes, which cover three main segments: high-tech manufacturing, software and computer-related services, and telecommunications services.

It does not include biotechnology, engineering services or other related businesses. Aerospace, and Boeing, are not included in the statistics.

The AEA conceded that it is difficult to determine exactly which jobs qualify as high-tech. While some analysts count as many as 70 SIC codes when gathering high-tech data, this report included only those in which high-tech businesses composed the majority.

Other Northwest details from the report:

29,600 of Washington’s high-tech jobs are in software and computer services, 21,500 in telecommunications services.

Oregon has 57,339 high-tech employees; the state’s average high-tech salary is $46,319.

Washington high-tech exports in 1995 were $2.9 billion, compared with $4.3 billion for Oregon.

The export number, the AEA noted, counts manufactured goods, but not services, which comprise a large portion of Microsoft’s exports.