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Higher Share of Males in Oregon’s High-Tech Industry
By Anna Johnson
Oregon Workforce and Economic Information [6]
The Census Bureau’s Quarterly Workforce Indicators show that at the beginning of the second quarter of 2016, Oregon’s high-tech industry was 69 percent male and 31 percent female. Looking back in time, there has been a slow but steady upward trend in the percentage of males, increasing from roughly 61 percent male in the early 1990s.
Within the high-tech industry, the industries with the largest share of males in 2016 were aerospace product and parts manufacturing (84%), semiconductor and other electronic component manufacturing (73%), and software publishers (70%). One industry, other information services, which includes companies that store and provide access to information through the internet, had a slightly higher share of females at 52 percent to 48 percent male.
The disparity becomes more apparent at the occupational level. The Census Bureau’s American Community Survey data shows that in computer and mathematical occupations in 2015 Oregon was roughly 76 percent male and 24 percent female. In architecture and engineering it was roughly 85 percent male and 15 percent female. The higher percentage of females in the industry data compared with the occupational data is likely due to other, nontechnical occupations at tech companies such as front office, finance, and marketing. It may also help to explain the tech sector industry trend towards a higher percentage of males in recent years since workplaces overall have become more technical through time.