Report: Hawaiʻi Tech Sector has Direct Impact of $3.4 Billion on State’s Economy

A new report released this week details the characteristics of the state’s more than 30,000 workers in the information technology industry. The Cyberstates 2021™ report by CompTIA showed that the state is home to nearly 2,300 tech business establishments and the sector has a direct impact of $3.4 billion on the state economy.

The report shows that at the end of 2020 net tech employment in the state totaled 30,465, or 4.5 percent of the state’s overall workforce. The estimated median wage of $81,726 for tech workers is 68 percent more than the median wage for all occupations in the state.

“As we look ahead to a rapidly evolving future of work and the ever-expanding digital economy, both immense opportunity and challenges loom,” said Tim Herbert, executive vice president for research and market intelligence at CompTIA. “Cyberstates confirms the importance of building resilient workforces and businesses through skills development, robust and secure digital infrastructure and innovation-minded leadership.” 

Tech Workforce Characteristics

Building on CompTIA’s belief that “there’s a place in tech for everyone,” the Cyberstates 2021 report includes an expanded examination of the characteristics of America’s tech workforce, presenting a comparison of the representation of seven primary race and ethnicity groups, as defined by the Bureau of Labor Statistics, within technology occupations and compared to all occupations.

The report also includes a diversity index that measures the depth and breadth of diversity in the tech workforce for these seven groups in all 50 states, the District of Columbia and 51 metropolitan markets.

In Hawaiʻi women account for 29 percent of the tech workforce compared to 26 percent nationally. Blacks or African Americans make up 2 percent of the state’s tech workforce (8 percent nationally) and representation of Hispanics or Latinos is at 4 percent (7 percent nationally).

Cyberstates 2021 offers comprehensive information on the size and scope of the tech industry and workforce at the national, state and metro area-levels, including time-series trending, average wages, business establishments, job postings, innovation and emerging tech metrics.

The full report is available here. CompTIA is an advocate for global information technology and the tech professionals who design, implement, manage, and safeguard technology used around the world.