Technology Industry Faring Better Than Most

The U.S. technology industry cut 115,000 jobs between January and June of 2009, a 1.9 percent decline, according to a new report by the TechAmerica Foundation based on U.S. Bureau of Labor Statistics.

"The tech industry has suffered the full force of the global economic recession in the first half of this year, yet we believe it has weathered the storm better than most," said TechAmerica Foundation President Christopher W. Hansen.

"Given that technology is an important economic driver, long-term investments and globally competitive tax policies are critical for encouraging technology companies to form and flourish in the United States and add new American jobs."

From June 2008 through June 2009, tech lost 224,100 jobs, a 3.7 percent workforce decline. Over the same period the U.S. private sector cut jobs at a higher rate of 5.1 percent.

For the six months between January and June, the sector hit the hardest was high-tech manufacturing. Technology manufacturers cut 69,500 net jobs in the first half of 2009, a 5.6 percent loss, leaving a total of 1.2 million tech manufacturing jobs in June. This accounted for 11.6 percent of total U.S. manufacturing jobs lost over that time period.

Technology service providers slashed 45,500 jobs, engineering and tech services cut 21,500, communications services lost 13,600 and software services cut 10,400.