Silicon Valley Still Leads California in Tech Employment

San Jose and Silicon Valley remain Californias strongest technology epicenter, drawing the highest salaries and employing the most tech workers, according to the California Cybercities 2006 report, released June 27 by the AeA, a tech industry trade association.

San Jose and Silicon Valley employed 214,900 tech industry workers in 2004 and paid them an annual average wage of $126,700.

Los Angeles followed San Jose/Silicon Valley with 165,700 jobs, paying an average of $75,500. San Francisco-Oakland came in third overall, employing 156,700 at an average pay of $96,900, and San Diego followed in tech employment, paying 99,900 an average of $85,200.

Average annual tech wages were 106 percent higher than private sector wages throughout California. At the cities level, this number jumped to 183 percent in Santa Cruz but dropped to 53 percent in Ventura.

Californias tech industry lost significantly fewer jobs in 2004 compared with 2003, a net 10,600 versus 67,800 respectively, though the vast majority of these (10,500 jobs) were lost in San Jose/Silicon Valley.

Gains were seen in other parts of the state: Sacramento boasted 1,300 new jobs in 2004; Riverside-San Bernardino gained 1,000; Fresno added 200; and Santa Barbara expanded by 150 new tech jobs. This reflects a growing geographical diffusion across the state, where Northern California employs 439,000 tech industry workers, compared with 418,000 in Southern California.

Across the country, high tech employment accounted for 61,000 jobs in 2004, according to the AeA Cyberstates report released in April.

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