Tech sector recovers, jobs don't

WASHINGTON: The U.S. high-tech sector is bouncing back after several rough years, the Bush administration said, though jobs in the industry have been slower to return.

After a punishing slump that saw many firms post huge losses or declare bankruptcy, the high-tech sector is showing signs of recovery as businesses are once again investing in computers and other information technology, the Commerce Department said.

Though high-tech industries make up 8 percent of the gross domestic product, they will account for nearly one-third of the economic growth this year, according to a report prepared by the department's Economics and Statistics Administration.

The picture has not been as bright for workers with high-tech skills, according to the report. Between 2000 and 2002 the sector shed one-third of the 1.8 million jobs it had added since 1993, the report said, and many of those jobs may not be coming back due to increasing automation and "offshoring" of jobs to countries where labor costs are lower.

The average high-tech wage declined 1.3 percent last year to $67,440 even as wages for the private sector as a whole inched up 1 percent to an average of $36,520, the report said.

Recovery in the sector has been uneven, the report said, as computer and semiconductor makers have rebounded from significant losses while telecommunications equipment makers have continued to struggle.

Reuters