Tech employment growing in Virginia

Published March 29, 2019 by Jessica Sabbath

Technology-related employment grew by more than 6,400 jobs in 2018, according to Cyberstates 2019.

Since 2010, net tech employment has grown by more than 27,700 new jobs, according to CompTIA, a technology industry association.

With more than 436,500 workers, tech accounts for about 10.7 percent of Virginia’s workforce.

The tech center has an estimated direct economic impact of $62.7 billion, or about 13.5 percent of Virginia’s total economy.

Future tech employment should continue to grow, according to the report. Virginia saw a 32 percent increase in the number of job postings related to emerging technologies, such as the Internet of Things, smart cities, drones, artificial intelligence, virtual and augmented reality and blockchain.

Cyberstates projects the base of tech occupation employment – a subset of net tech employment will grow by 8.8 percent in Virginia by 2026. Retirements will add even more pressure to meet the need for tech talent.

In addition:

• Virginia ranked sixth nationwide in net tech employment; 12th in net tech jobs added last year; and 10th in the Cyberstates Innovation Score, based on venture capital investments, tech startups and new business formations and other factors.
• Tech occupations with year-over-year growth in Virginia included computer system and cybersecurity analysts (+3.8 percent) and software and web developers (+2.2 percent).
• The median tech occupation wage in Virginia is $94,493; 103 percent higher than the median wage for all occupations in the state.

Cyberstates 2019 is based on CompTIA's analysis of data from the U.S. Bureau of Labor Statistics, the U.S. Bureau of Economic Analysis, EMSI, Burning Glass Technologies Labor Insights, and other sources.