US tech industry loses quarter of a million jobs

The technology industry in the US lost quarter of a million jobs in 2009.

In all, 245,600 jobs were lost - a four per cent fall. But this is actually better than the rest of the US economy which lost five per cent of positions in the year.

High-tech manufacturing fared worst. 112,600 jobs were lost between 2008 and 2009, representing an 8.1 per cent drop.

Not all sectors lost jobs, however. Software services grew by one per cent, adding 10,100 jobs.

Nor were losses equally spread around the country. State by state figures for 2008 - the latest available - showed the number of tech jobs actually increased in 41 states. California gained 15,800 technology jobs, while Delaware saw the largest percentage growth with a 12.8 per cent increase.

Virginia has the highest proportion of tech workers out of the workforce as a whole for the fourth year running - 95 out of every 1,000 private sector jobs are in technology.

There are still 5.9 million Americans working for tech companies.

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