It’S Heaven For High-Tech For The Third Straight Year, Washington Tops Salary Survey

It pays to be a high-tech worker in Washington state.

For the third straight year, salaries of technology-sector employees in Washington were the highest in the nation, averaging $81,000 in 1997, according to an American Electronics Association report.

The average private sector wage in the state was about $30,000. Nationally, the high-tech salary average for 1997 was $53,000.

Washington’s high-tech average pay easily topped California, the largest U.S. technology employer, which posted an average wage of $62,800 in 1997.

Stock options played a big part in pushing up Washington’s numbers; factoring on the survey included Microsoft options that have paid lofty returns.

The survey, released Wednesday, also said Washington is the 21st largest high-tech exporter, with $3.2 billion worth of goods in 1998 - a drop of about 8 percent compared with 1997.

Terry Byington, executive director of the AEA’s Washington Council, said the export decline is not a trend and expects next year’s numbers to reflect an increase.

“Because we have a broad representation of a lot of segments … we have continued to move forward,” Byington said, noting other areas of the country have relied strongly on one or two high-tech markets.

Regarding growth, the report says Washington added 8,500 technology jobs between 1996 and 1997, totaling 97,000 employees. And between 1990 and 1997, the state added 35,900 high-tech jobs.

In Idaho, the AEA report says, the average 1997 high-tech wage was $46,560, compared with a $23,745 average overall in the private sector. The state also added 8,700 technology jobs between 1990 and 1997, a growth rate of 66 percent.

Additionally, the $1.6 billion Idaho had in high-tech exports in 1998 makes up 55 percent of the state’s total exports, the report says.

Figures for the AEA study were gathered from the Bureau of Labor Statistics, Department of Commerce and the Census Bureau.

Byington said the study used a conservative definition of “hightech job.” Only 45 standard industry codes were used in the study.