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High-Technology Industries

Description: 

High-technology activities by definition are innovative activities. While innovation occurs in many other industries, no accepted definition of innovative industries exists.

Various definitions of high technology have been created. The definition used here is based on definitions created by the U.S. Bureau of Labor Statistics, the American Electronics Association, and Carnegie Mellon University. It consists of the following industries, industry groups, and subsectors (the latest North American Industry Classification System code is included in parentheses).

High-technology manufacturing activities:

  • pharmaceutical and medicine (3254)
  • optical instruments and lenses (333314)
  • computer and peripheral equipment (3341)
  • communications equipment (3342)
  • audio and video equipment (3343)
  • semiconductor and other electronic components (3344)
  • navigational, measuring, electromedical, and control instruments (3345)
  • aerospace products and parts (3364)

Service activities:

  • commercial equipment merchant wholesalers (4234)
  • software publishers (5112)
  • telecommunications (517)
  • data processing, hosting, and related (5182)
  • Internet publishing and broadcasting and web search portals (51913)
  • Engineering services (54133)
  • testing laboratories (54138)
  • computer systems design and related (5415)
  • scientific research and development (5417)
     
Data Source: 

U.S. Department of Commerce, Census Bureau, County Business Patterns http://www.census.gov/econ/cbp/. The annual data are released about 18 months after the end of a year.

Data Quality Comments: 

The employment figure is as of the week of March 12 and includes part-time as well as full-time employees. For Arizona, some of the employment figures for component industries of the high-technology measure have to be estimated due to the data being withheld by the federal government.

iconHigh-Technology Employment as a Percentage of Total Private-Sector Employment in Arizona, as Defined by Industry

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Visualization Notes:

As defined by industry, high-technology employment as a share of private-sector employment was substantially greater in Arizona than the national average historically. In 1998, for example, the high-tech share was 8.0 percent in Arizona and 6.3 percent nationally. Over time, the share nationally has fluctuated without a trend; it still was 6.3 percent in 2012. In contrast, the share in Arizona has dropped significantly since 2001. In 2012, it was no higher than the national average — Arizona can no longer claim to be a high-tech hub.

Data Source

U.S. Department of Commerce, Census Bureau, County Business Patterns http://www.census.gov/econ/cbp/. The annual data are released about 18 months after the end of a year.