U.S. Tech Sector Adds 190,000 JobsU.S. Tech Sector Adds 190,000 Jobs

The U.S. technology industry added 190,000 jobs between January 2004 and June 2005, upping the total to 5.72 million, an industry trade group said Wednesday.

The 3.4 percent increase confirmed for the American Electronics Association that the high-tech industry has recovered from the bursting of the dot-com bubble four years ago.

"While industry growth is by no means explosive, the rise in high-tech jobs has been steady, and we find it encouraging that even tech manufacturing experienced a small increase," William T. Archey, AEA president and chief executive, said in a statement. "The trend over the last 18 months has impressed us."

The AEA prepared its report with data from the U.S. Bureau of Labor Statistics. The numbers showed a steady increase in tech jobs in the last six-, 12- and 18-month time spans, the group said.

Broken down by sector, technology manufacturers added 21,800 net jobs in the United States for a total of 1.36 million, a 1.6 percent increase and the first growth in employment since 2000.

Tech service providers added 167,000 jobs for a total of 4.36 million, a 4 percent rise. Within this sector, engineering and tech services added the most jobs, 100,800; followed by software services with 75,600. Only communications services experienced a decline, losing 9,400 jobs.