RALEIGH —  North Carolina was one of the country’s leaders in total amount of tech jobs added in 2018, according to a study released Tuesday.

With a net tech employment gain of 13,773, North Carolina ranked fourth behind California (51,567), Florida (18,147) and Texas (17,855). Just behind North Carolina was New York (13,732).

On a percentage change basis, North Carolina ranked third among all states in tech job growth at 4 percent. The Tar Heel state was ranked only behind Utah (4.3 percent) and New Hampshire (4.2 percent).Nevada (4 percent) and Washington (3.5 percent) rounded out the top five.

Among the North Carolina tech companies that added jobs in the past year were Pendo, a Raleigh-based software company that added 590 jobs, and AveXis, a Durham-based biotechnology company that added 200 jobs.

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In the U.S., net tech employment grew by an estimated 260,865 jobs in 2018, a 2.3 percent increase over 2017. With 11.8 million workers across the country, net tech employment accounts for approximately 7.6 percent of the nation’s workforce. Since 2010, the industry has added an estimated 1.9 million new jobs.

The tech sector has an estimated direct economic impact of $1.8 trillion, or about 10 percent of the total U.S. economy, making it one of the economy’s largest industries.

“Clearly the broad-based impact of the tech industry touches virtually every community, industry and market across the country, especially when you consider the tens of millions of knowledge workers who rely on technology to do their jobs,” said Todd Thibodeaux, president and chief executive officer of CompTIA, which conducted the study.

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CompTIA is a technology industry association that annually publishes tech sector and tech workforce analytics.

The outlook for future employment growth remains positive. It’s projected that tech employment will grow to 8.6 million by 2026. Retirements will put even more pressure to meet the need for tech talent.

In 2018, the median tech occupation wage was $81,907, which is 92 percent higher than the median national wage for all occupations.

Employer job postings for workers with skills in emerging technologies increased by 74 percent from 2017 to 2018, a signal that many companies are preparing now for the innovations that will shape their future.

This story is from the North Carolina Business News Wire, a service of UNC-Chapel Hill’s School of Media and Journalism

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