U.S. high-tech manufacturing jobs down by nearly 30%

By Corilyn Shropshire

Nearly 30 percent of the nation's high-tech manufacturing jobs were lost in the last decade, according to a new government study.

The U.S. shed 28 percent, or 687,000 high-tech manufacturing jobs since reaching its peak of 2.5 million in 2000, according to the study released Tuesday by the National Science Board, the policymaking body for the National Science Foundation.

According to the report, high-tech manufacturing took its first hit in the recession of 2001 suffering "substantial and permanent" job losses, according to the report. By 2010, more than a quarter of the jobs were lost.

The result: the country's declining competitive edge in science and technology is taking its toll on U.S. high-tech jobs according to the report. "Other nations clearly recognize the economic and social benefits of investing in R&D and education, and they are challenging the United States' leadership position," said Jose-Marie Griffiths, chairwoman of the National Science Board committee that oversees the production of the report. "We're seeing the result in the very real, and substantial loss of good jobs," she said in a statement.

At the same time, U.S.-based multinational firms are creating research and development jobs abroad at an "unprecedented rate," according to the report. Since 2004, about 80 percent of all research and development job growth has been in U.S. firms' foreign outposts. "We have no indication that these are transfers of jobs out of U.S.," said Rolf Lehming, the program director for the report. "Rather, what is happening is that the research jobs are generated overseas at a more rapid rate than in the U.S.," he said. Research jobs in the United States continue to increase, Lehming added, albeit at a relatively modest rate.

The report, published every two years, features trends and factors that affect the nation's economy, competitiveness and innovation.

Among the other findings: the United States and Asia nearly matched their research and development expenditures with the U.S. spending $400 billion in 2009 and Asia spending $399 billion.

The report also said that for the first time, China is outpacing the U.S. in global exports.

In the late '90s, the United State's share of global high-tech exports in industries including aerospace, pharmaceuticals, computers and office equipment and measuring and calibration equipment reached 22 percent. By 2010 however, it had shrunk to 15 percent. At the same time, the report said, China's high-tech exports had nearly quadrupled to 22 percent from 6 percent in 1995.

Tracking science and engineering data is important becauseAdidas Yeezy