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CompTIA Cyberstates 2017™ finds state is home to 2,000 tech businesses and 15,000-plus tech professionals

Charleston, W.Va. – Technology industry employment in West Virginia was essentially flat in 2016, according to Cyberstates 2017™, the definitive annual analysis of the nation’s tech industry released today by CompTIA, the world’s leading technology association.

The tech industry workforce declined by an estimated 124 jobs, a drop of less than 1 percent. West Virginia is still home to an estimated 15,460 tech industry workers.

Technology occupations across all other industries in West Virginia – the second component of the tech workforce – reached an estimated 19,500 in 2016.

The tech sector accounts for an estimated 2.9 percent ($2.2 billion) of the overall state economy.

The annualized average wage for a West Virginia tech industry worker was an estimated $66,400 in 2016, 60 percent higher than the average state wage ($41,500).

Other Key Findings

• West Virginia is home to an estimated 2,009 tech business establishments.
• Among the leading tech occupations in the state are computer user support specialists (1,690) and network and computer system administrators (1,050).
• The strongest year-over-year job growth occurred in the categories of Internet services (+ 6 percent) and computer systems design and IT services (+ 3.4 percent).

Cyberstates 2017 is based on CompTIA’s analysis of data from the U.S. Bureau of Labor Statistics, the U.S. Bureau of Economic Analysis, EMSI, and other sources. Estimates for 2016 are subject to change as government data is revised and updated. The complete report with full national, state and metropolitan level data is available at http://www.cyberstates.org/.

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The Computing Technology Industry Association (CompTIA) is the world's leading technology association, with approximately 2,000 member companies, 3,000 academic and training partners, over 100,000 registered users and more than two million IT certifications issued. CompTIA's unparalleled range of programs foster workforce skills development and generate critical knowledge and insight – building the foundation for technology’s future. Visit CompTIA online, Facebook, LinkedIn and Twitter to learn more. 

Contact:
Preston Grisham
CompTIA
[email protected]
(202) 862-4458

Steven Ostrowski
CompTIA
[email protected]
(630) 678-8468