April 2, 2008 10:43 AM

High concentration of tech jobs in Mass.
Posted by Jesse Nunesat 10:43 AM

The American Electronics Association released their annual "Cyberstates" report Wednesday, which takes a state-by-state look at tech jobs in the US. The report showed that Massachusetts ranked second in the nation in the concentration of tech jobs, beaten only by Virginia. The Bay State also ranked sixth in overall tech jobs. The Globe Chris Reidy reports:

The high technology industry in Massachusetts added 5,100 net jobs, an increase of 2 percent, in 2006, the most recent year for which data is available, and there were 87 high tech workers out of every 1,000 private-sector workers in the Bay State, the second highest concentration in the United States...

Massachusetts workers had an average salary of $94,770, which is 79 percent more than the state's average private sector wage of $52,798, said the report, which added that Massachusetts ranks fourth nationwide in research-and-development spending on a per capita basis and second in venture capital investments with $3.5 billion.

One down-side: Massachusetts lost 18 percent of its high-tech work force, or 52,600 jobs, between 2001 and 2006, the report said.