NJ tech sector packs major economic punch, report finds

New Jersey is receiving high marks for its technology job market, snaring a pair of high rankings in a new report.

According to the CompTIA 2016 Cyberstates report, which provides a state-by-state analysis of the U.S. technology job market, New Jersey ranked in the top 10 nationwide for tech industry employment and average wages.

"Compared to other states, New Jersey ranks 10th in terms of employment, and in terms of the average wage for tech workers, New Jersey ranks fourth in the country," said Tim Herbert, CompTIA Senior Vice President of Research & Market Intelligence.

The tech sector employed 208,581 New Jersey workers in 2015, with an average salary of $118,490.

"This is almost twice as high as the average private sector wage in New Jersey," Herbert said.

The tech payroll of $24.7 billion accounted for 6.3 percent of all private sector payroll in the Garden State. In fact, 7 percent of the state's economy derives from the state economy with $37 billion in total economic activity.

"Technology certainly makes a significant contribution to the New Jersey economy," Herbert explained. "New Jersey is higher compared to most other states in terms of the contribution of technology."

The New Jersey tech industry is offering a wide array of jobs, everything from the creation and development of technology to the deployment and support of it. That stretches across the expansion sector, IT services, telecommunications, engineering services, internet services, and manufacturing.

"Whether it's a hospital or a school or financial services, they're all using technology so intensely that that's reflected in the high wages," Herbert said.

New Jersey's ranking has held pretty consistently, though it slipped back a bit from its ranking of ninth in 2013. Herbert attributes that to some lost telecommunications jobs because of the changing technology of more products and services moving wireless.

California topped the list with an average wage of $149,000 for its tech employees.