Idaho technology wages increase in 2006

BOISE — Average wages at Idaho technology companies such as Micron Technology Inc. in Boise and AMI Semiconductor in Pocatello rose nearly 11 percent in 2006, buoyed by one of the nation's fastest-growing economies and 2.8 percent unemployment.

The average annual technology wage jumped to $66,187, or $31.82 an hour, in 2006, up from $59,666, or $28.69 an hour, in 2005, according to preliminary figures from the Idaho Department of Commerce and Labor, obtained by The Associated Press.

The numbers showed nearly 56,000 workers were employed in the state's so-called "high-tech industry." It's a sign the sector's labor force has all but recovered from a post-Sept. 11, 2001, recession that pared employment from a high of 57,581 that year to as low as 51,293 in 2003.

"There's no question that the industry is growing, and it suggests it's growing fairly rapidly in the last year," said Bob Fick, a Commerce and Labor spokesman.

There were 4,148 employers in the industry in 2006, nearly fourfold the number from 1991.

The wage numbers run contrary to doomsayers on a state-created science and technology panel who have said Idaho's high-tech economy is sluggish and neglected by policy makers.

The Governor's Science & Technology Advisory Council, created in 1999, has criticized Gov. C.L. "Butch" Otter for not signing on to a multimillion-dollar package of proposed taxpayer-funded high-tech business incentives that failed to win favor in the 2007 Legislature.

John Grossenbacher, the director of the Idaho National Laboratory and chairman of the Science & Technology Council, whose 17 members include three Idaho university presidents, said he wanted to let the panel's members do a more complete analysis of the latest high-tech wages before commenting on their significance for the industry.

"The council is composed from a rich mix of people throughout the state, from various industries," Grossenbacher said. "The council will need to look at it, we need to understand where the data we have comes from. Then we get to the rich analysis and understanding."

After the latest employment and salary figures were reported Wednesday, Otter aides said the governor was "reassured but not satisfied" with the health of the tech-based portion of Idaho's economy. That sector's wages totaled $3.7 billion in 2006.

"Certainly there's room for improvement — not just in high tech, but in all segments of our economy," said Mark Warbis, an Otter spokesman.