CompTIA Newsroom

State ranks 11^th in tech employment; fifth in innovation

Trenton, N.J. – New Jersey’s technology industry added an estimated 1,941 new jobs in 2016, according to Cyberstates 2017™, the definitive annual analysis of the nation’s tech industry released today by CompTIA, the world’s leading technology association.

With an estimated 214,737 workers, New Jersey ranks 11^th among the 50 states for tech industry employment.

Technology occupations across all other industries in New Jersey – the second component of the tech workforce – reached an estimated 212,500 in 2016.

The tech sector accounts for an estimated 8 percent ($45.4 billion) of the overall New Jersey economy.

The annualized average wage for a New Jersey tech industry worker was an estimated $121,100 in 2016, 94 percent higher than the average state wage ($62,300). New Jersey ranks fourth nationally in average tech industry wages.

Other Key Findings

• New Jersey ranks fifth among all states in the Cyberstates 2017 Innovation Score, which is based on an analysis of new tech patents, tech startups and new tech business establishments on a per capita basis.
• There are an estimated 16,114 tech business establishments in New Jersey.
• The tech industry employs an estimated 5.5 percent of the overall state workforce.
• Leading tech occupations include application software developers (41,470), computer programmers (15,010) and computer systems analysts (14,370).
• The strongest year-over-year job growth occurred in the categories of Internet services (+ 5 percent), computer systems design and IT services (+ 3.3 percent) and R&D and testing labs (+ 2.5 percent).
• Employers posted more than 21,300 job openings for tech occupations in Q4 2016.

“The Cyberstates data affirms the strength and vitality of New Jersey’s tech industry, and attests to its essential standing in the economy,” said Todd Thibodeaux, president and CEO, CompTIA. “Technology enables innovation and generates growth for companies, regardless of their size, locale or markets served.”

Cyberstates 2017 is based on CompTIA’s analysis of data from the U.S. Bureau of Labor Statistics, the U.S. Bureau of Economic Analysis, EMSI, and other sources. Estimates for 2016 are subject to change as government data is revised and updated. The complete report with full national, state and metropolitan level data is available at http://www.cyberstates.org/.

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Contact:

Preston Grisham
CompTIA
pgrisham@comptia.org
(202) 862-4458

Steven Ostrowski
CompTIA
sostrowski@comptia.org
(630) 678-8468