For Immediate Release: October 23, 2006
DBEDT Release News 06-30

HONOLULU--According to a new report by the Department of Business, Economic Development & Tourism (DBEDT), wage and salary jobs in Hawaii's private technology sector increased 5.4 percent in 2005, reversing several years of modest decline. The technology sector workforce totaled an estimated 13,813 jobs in 2005, a one-year gain of over 700 jobs over 2004.

This does not include self-employed in the tech sector, which could not be measured. All major segments of the tech sector outperformed the overall economy in 2005, including technology services, up 4.1 percent; research and development activity, up 9.3 percent; and technology manufacturing, with an estimated 17.1 percent gain for the year.

"We are pleased to see that most of the major areas of technology were growing faster than the private sector as a whole in 2005," said DBEDT director Theodore E. Liu. "We are particularly pleased with the very strong growth in private research and development activity."

The report focused on growth in two areas - research and development and technology establishments.

Research and Development (R&D)

Scientific and technological research and development activity has been the most significant growth area of high tech in Hawaii over the last four years, with a robust, 36.1 percent increase from 2001 to 2005. This is nearly four times the rate of growth in total private sector employment over the same period.

R&D represented about 19 percent of total tech sector employment in 2005, or 2,600 jobs. Employees in R&D averaged $56,942 in wages for 2005, 65 percent above the private sector average.

Technology Establishments

There were 1,115 establishments in Hawaii's private technology sector during 2005. The average wage for the sector was $57,458 in 2005, 66 percent above the average for the private sector as a whole.

The DBEDT measure of technology uses detailed industry data compiled under the new, North American Industrial Classification System, or NAICS. The definition of technology activity is based on industries identified by the American Electronics Association (AeA), supplemented with additional industries recommended by the Hawaii Science and Technology Council and Enterprise Honolulu, as well as DBEDT researchers.

Under the new NAICS system major components of technology can be identified that represent a spectrum of the technology development process, ranging from research and development, to the manufacture of technology products, and the production of services that provide technology-based solutions addressing business and consumer needs.

Future reports using the new data will focus on identifying technology specialties such as biotechnology, infotech, telecommunications and county level technology activity.

The report, Hawaii's Technology Sector: 2001-2005, was produced by the department's Research and Economic Analysis Division and is available on the DBEDT web site at http://www.hawaii.gov/dbedt.

For more information, contact:
Dave Young
Communications
Phone: (808) 587-1212
Email: dyoung@dbedt.hawaii.gov