MEDC Counters Cyberstates with Own Tech Employment Study

Last week, the Michigan Economic Development Corporation (MEDC) announced the findings of Michigan: The High-Technology Automotive State, a new study that demonstrates that the state’s high-tech workforce is dramatically larger than previously reported by national rankings. The MEDC study shows that the American Electronics Association (AEA) uses a narrow definition of high-tech in their annual ranking, Cyberstates 4.0, which was released the next day.

Under current AEA reporting guidelines, high technology jobs in the auto industry and other traditional industrial sectors are excluded from the Cyberstates data. According to the new MEDC report, which uses the U.S. Bureau of Labor Statistics definition of high-tech industries, there are 530,492 high-tech workers in Michigan, compared to 96,013 reported by the AEA. As a result, Michigan’s ranking, viewed as critical by the MEDC to changing the nation’s perception of Michigan as a high-tech center, moves to 4th in the country from 17th in Cyberstates.

Ohio and Pennsylvania, among others, also benefit from the new study. Massachusetts, Florida, Colorado and Georgia are among the states to see lower overall rankings from the study.

The MEDC study, undertaken with the Michigan Automotive Partnership, also found that 65,674 workers in the auto industry alone are high tech and not counted by AEA, according to the state’s study. In fact, 15.9 percent of auto employment in Michigan at these companies is in high-tech fields, a rate higher than some other industries traditionally considered high-tech. About 79 percent of high-tech employment for GM, Ford and DaimlerChrysler is located in Michigan.

The MEDC study, Michigan: The High-Technology Automotive State, was conducted by the University of Michigan’s Office for the Study of Automotive Transportation and is available on the web at: http://medc.michigan.org/ Cyberstates 4.0 is available for $190 from the American Electronics Association at: http://www.aeanet.org