California's high-tech industry is slowly rebounding, with state exports in 2004 rising to $48.3 billion from $41.5 billion in 2003.
However, the industry continued to lose jobs, though at a slower pace, a study released on Wednesday said.
According to the American Electronics Association study, venture capital investments in California are up by $1 billion in 2004, jumping from $8.2 billion in 2003 to $9.3 billion in 2004.
"When you examine this increase in VC funding and the fact that California still leads in employment in nearly every high-tech sector, it is obvious that California remains an attractive location for technology companies to innovate," said Matthew Kazmierczak, director of Research for AeA.
According to the report titled 'Cyberstates 2005,' high-tech employment fell by 67,800 in 2003, which is significantly fewer than the 134,400 jobs lost in 2002. State employment data for 2003 are the most recent available.
Although California lost jobs in 2003, the average annual wage for employees in the technology industry increased from $80,800 in 2002 to $84,400 in 2003, adjusted for inflation.
Nationwide, the industry suffered a net loss of 25,300 tech jobs in 2004 -- considerably less than 333,000 jobs lost in the previous year and the 612,000 positions lost the year before that -- showing that high-tech employment levels are stabilising in the United States.
"That's a big, big drop in jobs lost," said William Archey, president and CEO of the AeA, a tech industry trade group. "Basically, the hemorrhaging stopped."
Archey attributed the slower rate of job loss to more demand for software service and computer technical service positions. He also cited the spike in demand for computer-related jobs in the defence industry, fueled by overseas military campaigns.
US high-tech exports were up by 12 per cent for a total of $191 billion in 2004. And, technology related venture capital investments were up for the first time in four years.
