High Tech is Hot -- and CA is on fire!

California's high-tech industry added more than 21,000 jobs last year, and is maintaining its place as the nation's industry leader.

According to the AeA 2008 Cyberstate's report, California's technology workers earned an average wage of $101, 200 (112% above the state's average private-sector wage.) By the numbers, California has 940,700 high-tech workers, a high-tech payroll of $95.2 billion and 43, 400 high-tech enterprises. All these make it the top "cyberstate" in the country.

Christopher Hansen, AeA President & CEO, singled out "negligence on the part of our political leaders" to invest in research, improve the U.S. education system and "allow the best and the brightest" from around the wolrd to work in the United States.

See his interview with Fox Business News. (04/02/08).


Topics include Cyberstates 2008, High Skilled Visa Reform, STEM Education, and U.S. Competitiveness.

In a separate interview, Mr. Hansen told Congress Daily that "The upside is that technology jobs pay considerably more than most other posts in the private sector and although the labor market remains tight, unemployment rates are below 2% across many tech occupations." The bad news, he told the publication, is "The tech industry and the country risk an impending slide in U.S. global competiveness, caused by negligence on the part of our political leaders to adequately invest in scientific research, improve our education system, and allow the best and brightest from around the world to work in the United States."

Mr, Hansen also discused the importance of the "America Competes Act."