The Orange County Register reported on December 20th of last year that the OC ranks 14th in the country when it comes to high tech jobs (as ranked in 2009) indicating that 77 of every 1000 private sector jobs were in the tech industry (based on the Cybercities 2010 report furnished by the TechAmerica Foundation).One might think that cities and regions like San Jose and the Silicon Valley would lead the pack but they in fact came in third, with the greater New York area taking top honors. The breakout is as follows for the top ten:
- Greater New York 317,000 jobs
- Greater Washington DC 293,000 jobs
- San Jose/Silicon Valley 225,600 jobs
- Boston 219,800 jobs
- Dallas/Ft. Worth 174,800 jobs
- Los Angeles 170,000 jobs
- Chicago 161,800 jobs
- Seattle 145,300 jobs
- Philadelphia 134,200 jobs
- Houston 127,800 jobs
The Orange County Register went on to report that “while Orange County may not be at the top of the list overall, it stands out in the following four sectors”:
- Consumer electronics manufacturing: Ranked 4th with 1,100 jobs
- Electronic components and accessories manufacturing: Ranked 5th with 9,100 jobs
- Space and defense systems manufacturing: Ranked 3rd with 6,000 jobs
- Photonics manufacturing: Ranked 3rd with 900 jobs
The article closed by pointing out that “tech jobs have the benefit of providing extra oomph to Orange County’s economy because they tend to be higher paid. The TechAmerica Foundation said high tech jobs here in 2009 paid 75 more than average private sector wages.”