Despite thousands of layoffs ahead of and during the harshest recession in two generations, high technology remains a significant contributor to Idaho’s economy, according to a report released by the Idaho Department of Labor.
Even with an employment contraction that began in 2007 at Micron and washed through the industry, high-tech still accounted for 7 percent of both total employment and business establishments in Idaho in 2008, and 17 percent of total wages.
Figures for 2008 are nearly a full percentage point below the sector’s 2006 peak for employment and payroll, but high technology continues to pump billions of dollars a year into Idaho – nearly $4 billion in wages.
Idaho still ranked 29th in the nation in the percentage of its work force employed in high-tech, 31st in the percentage of businesses in the high-tech sector and seventh in the ratio of the average high-tech paycheck to the average wage statewide.
High technology workers in Idaho averaged over $70,000 a year in 2008 compared to the statewide average wage of just under $34,000.
High technology goods, primarily computer chips, have also dominated the state’s exports, typically running at over 70 percent of total value until 2008 and 2009 when they slipped under 65 percent.
