Description

This study benefits from previous analysis that was sponsored by Virginia’s Center for Innovative
Technology concerning the growing high-tech industry in Virginia. For example, Pearson
and Kulas (1997) found that between 1991 and 1996, employment at high-tech industries in
Virginia grew at a slightly slower rate than that of all industries, but wages and salaries paid to
high-tech workers were well above those for other industries in the state. Stough, Kulkarni,
and Trice (2000) considered the distribution of high tech around the state and found that
Northern Virginia contained the fastest growth and the greatest concentration of high-tech
employment.*
The findings of earlier studies are confirmed in our research. The definition of a high-tech
industry is one substantial difference between this report and previous studies of the high-tech
industry in Virginia. Previous studies of technology in Virginia generally used a list of over 100
industries at the four-digit standard industrial classification level to define high-tech. One of the
goals of this study, however, is to identify a definition of high-tech that is flexible and broad
enough to change over time in a manner that captures the evolving high-technology industry.
The definition of technology used in this study is explained on page 7 and in Appendix A.