New Tech Jobs Emerge Amid Layoffs

Tech-sector employment went up, not down, by a total of 77,000 more jobs in 2008. So says a report by trade association TechAmerica, which claims 1,500 member companies including Xerox, Google, IBM, and Volt, Microsoft's largest provider of temporary employees.

The total headcount for 2008? Just under six million American tech workers, up from 5.8 million in 2007.

Contrary to the widespread presumption that the tech sector is shedding jobs almost as fast as General Motors, TechAmerica's report says job losses in high-tech manufacturing and communications services (PR and marketing) were more than offset by gains in engineering and technical services. In particular, software services jobs jumped more than five percent, to a total of 1.7 million. Go cloud computing!

The takeaway is that high-tech is still America's economic miracle engine, even when it sputters. Moreover, tech jobs are no longer restricted to Silicon Valley. In 2008's state-by-state tally, the largest number of new jobs -- 14,700 -- were added in Texas. The state with the fastest growth at 8.1 percent? Kansas.