U.S. tech industry added jobs in ’08 – before Wall Street crisis

Research Triangle Park, N.C. — High-tech employers in the U.S. were adding thousands of headcount to payrolls through the first seven months of this year, according to the trade group AeA.

However, the latest federal statistics on which the AeA report are based were compiled before the economy began to sour and then imploded this month with the financial crisis on Wall Street.

In recent weeks, for example, in the Triangle mobile device manufacturer Sony Ericsson announced plans to let go some 450 people. And semiconductor firm Qimonda AG said it would close its research and design operation in Cary. That means the loss of 190 jobs. The merger of Misys Healthcare and Allscripts also led to layoffs of more than 40 people.

Nationally, unemployment is at its highest rate in years. And even before recent events, the AeA acknowledged that job expansion had slowed.

"This is the fourth straight year that the U.S. tech industry is adding jobs," said AeA Chief Executive Officer Christopher Hansen. "But the pace of growth is slowing, and given the economic downturn and current disruption in the financial markets, future job growth will be – at best – uncertain.”

According to federal statistics, the tech sector added 78,300 jobs between January and July, an increase of 1.3 percent in the job force to 5.92 million.

That’s the highest payroll number for the tech sector since 2002.

However, the AeA noted that in the same time frame a year ago tech firms added 11,400 jobs.

The AeA said manufacturing jobs in the tech sector dipped by 2,500 to 1.28 million. The decline has been ongoing over the past 19 months, the AeA noted.

Hurt even worse was the communications services sector, which shed 11,500 jobs.

Countering that trend, AT&T recently opened a call handling center in Goldsboro that will create several hundred jobs.

Services jobs in the tech sector jumped by 80,800.

Software service positions increased 42,300.