PROVIDENCE – Rhode Island ranked No. 23 among states for the highest number of tech workers as a portion of the total workforce at 6.7 percent, according to a report from CompTIA Wednesday.
The report, Cyberstates 2018, said that the tech sector in Rhode Island directly contributed an estimated $3.4 billion to the Rhode Island economy in 2017.
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The report also gave Rhode Island a No. 34 ranking among states on its innovation ranking a measure of tech startups/new tech business formations and venture capital investment in the state.
The Rhode Island tech sector was said to have employed 35,300 in the state at 2,574 total tech business establishments in 2017. Software and web developers were the most represented tech occupation in Rhode Island, followed by network architects and support specialists, and computer system and information security analysts.
The state saw an estimated 8,210 tech occupation job postings in 2017.
The report said that about 50 percent of Rhode Island tech sector employees were in tech occupations.
The leading tech sector in the state was IT services and custom software services, followed by telecommunications and internet services, and research & development, testing and engineering services. Tech manufacturing and software were Nos. 4 and 5 in their size. Only IT services and custom software, and R&D, testing and engineering showed employment growth from 2016 to 2017.
The average tech worker in Rhode Island earned $85,880 annually, compared with $112,900 nationally. According to the report, the average state wage in 2017 was $52,350.
The Ocean State tech workforce was 65.2 percent male and 34.8 percent female, according to the report. Washington, D.C., had the most equal gender employment split at 39.8 percent female and 60.2 percent male. Wyoming had the lowest at 26 percent female and 74 percent male. Nationally, the gender split in the tech sector is 66 percent male and 34 percent female.
Chris Bergenheim is the PBN web editor.
