High-Tech Center Already

Regarding “Larger Role for L.A. Seen in High-Tech” (Sept. 16), far too often Los Angeles County’s rise in prominence in high technology is overshadowed by the more popular Silicon Valley.

Admittedly, the diversity of the Los Angeles County marketplace may have hidden the size of the county’s high-tech arena. For example, in the Silicon Valley of Santa Clara County nearly one-third of the work force is employed in high tech. By comparison, high-tech employees in Los Angeles County represent only about 11% of the county’s work force, but the number is roughly 1 1/2 times that of Santa Clara.

Then too, the definition of “high technology” will affect the outcome of statistical comparison. We know of at least five active definitions. For our purposes, we use the Bureau of Labor Statistics’ “group 3” category, which comes closest to the definitions of the Brookings Institute and UC Berkeley. Using this base, we found Los Angeles County leading the state in high technology at the beginning of this decade.

Excluding the aerospace industry, data suggests a 48% advantage by Los Angeles County in the number of firms (2,318 to 1,127) and a 62% lead in employees (257,353 to 160,781). Granted, subsequent years may have closed the gap, but the advantage is clearly in the south. Equally interesting is the lead that Los Angeles County carries in the high-tech labor pool, that is to say, engineers, mathematicians and technicians. In each category the edge was an even 40%. We agree that the 1990s will bring a growth in high technology to Los Angeles County. However, we need not await its emergence as the nation’s leading high-technology center. It is already upon us.

THEODORE B. HOWARD

President,

Economic Development Corp. of Los Angeles County