Press Releases

Columbia, S.C. – South Carolina’s technology industry employment grew by 3.3 percent in 2016 as employers added nearly 2,000 new jobs, according to Cyberstates 2017™, the definitive annual analysis of the nation’s tech industry released today by CompTIA, the world’s leading technology association.

With an estimated 62,360 workers, South Carolina ranks 27^th among the 50 states for tech industry employment.

Technology occupations across all other industries in South Carolina – the second component of the tech workforce – reached an estimated 80,300 in 2016.

The tech sector accounts for an estimated 4.6 percent ($9.2 billion) of the overall South Carolina economy.

The annualized average wage for a South Carolina tech industry worker was an estimated $76,600 in 2016, 81 percent higher than the average state wage ($42,400).

Other Key Findings

• South Carolina ranked 38^th among all states in the Cyberstates 2017 Innovation Score, which is based on an analysis of new tech patents, tech startups and new tech business establishments on a per capita basis.
• The state is home to an estimated 6,391 tech business establishments.
• The tech industry employs an estimated 3.2 percent of the overall state workforce.
• Leading tech occupations include computer user support specialists (7,010), industrial engineers (6,850) and computer systems analysts (5,940).
• The strongest year-over-year job growth occurred in the categories of computer systems design and IT services (+ 11.4 percent) and Internet services (+ 9.6 percent).
• Employers posted an estimated 6,424 job openings for tech occupations in Q4 2016.

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/.

CompTIA: Building the Foundation for Technology's Future
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