Virginia a Top Spot For Tech Industry

Virginia tops the nation with the most private-sector technology workers, says an annual report on tech employment released on Wednesday.

The annual Cyberstates report from the TechAmerica Foundation, the non-profit branch of the industry group TechAmerica, says the Old Dominion has about 278,000 technology jobs, with an average salary of $95,900, or twice as much as the average non-tech private sector worker in the state.

That number is high even with Virginia losing once percent (2,800) of technology jobs in 2010.

Virginia is the fourth-ranked state by total employment, behind  California, Texas and New York. Virginia also has the highest concentration, with nearly one in 10 private-sector workers in the tech industry. Virginia has held the top spot in concentration since 2005.

"Despite the onset of the recession, Virginia’s tech industry still managed to add jobs in 2008, marking its sixth consecutive year of growth,” Olga Grkavac, Executive Vice President, Public Sector of TechAmerica, said in a statement.  “But if any state is positioned to stave off tech job loss, it is Virginia.  More than 75 percent of the tech industry is concentrated in software and engineering and tech services – the sectors driving growth of the technology industry, and least affected by the recession. "

The majority of the Virginia jobs are in computer systems design and related services, in addition to 51,000 engineering services jobs and 44,000 Internet and telecommunications services positions. Many of those jobs are tied to the government sector.

Reston is a hub of the Dulles Technology Corridor. Some of the big names in private-sector tech employment in Reston include Northrop Grumman, Nextel, Google, Oracle and Raytheon.

Nationally, tech industry jobs fell by 115,800 (2 percent), leaving a total of 5.75 million workers. The reducation was than in 2009, when the nation lost 4.1 percent of its technology jobs.