TechAmerica Urges Regulatory Changes to Boost Tech Industry

Technology trade group TechAmerica urged regulatory actions to help the high-tech industry get back on track, after its annual report found 245,600 high-tech jobs were cut in 2009. The recession-induced loss of high-tech jobs followed four years of steady growth in high-tech employment, said the report.

Policymakers should move beyond “the talking point that technology and innovation is fundamental to recovery or growth or competitiveness” and take action, said Phil Bond, the group’s CEO, during a press briefing Tuesday. He urged extending and improving the research and development tax credit because the U.S. credit lags behind the research incentives offered by other countries. “It has to be enhanced otherwise the default is to outsource innovation around the world,” Bond said. The Senate plans to take up a one-year extension of the tax credit soon, he said, saying that’s “grievously overdue.” The group is also urging passage of a comprehensive cybersecurity act before the end of the current session. TechAmerica is committed to pushing to pass long overdue cybersecurity legislation, Bond said. The group is also asking lawmakers to renew the bipartisan America Competes Act, which was enacted in 2007 to spur technology innovation and R&D by increasing funding for organizations like the National Institute of Standards and Technology and the National Science Foundation.

Impact of the financial reform bill could extend far beyond the financial sector, said Josh Lamel, the group’s senior vice president. One of the common concerns is the definition of financial institution, he said. Another concern is that some provisions in the bill would give the Federal Trade Commission more power, he said. That could expand the agency’s ability to create new rules for other industries, he warned. Some business organizations had urged regulators to keep FTC authority out of financial reform legislation (CD April 23 p11) while some consumer groups had claimed broader authority is good for consumer protection.

Meanwhile, the FCC should take a deep look at the consequences before any actions on net neutrality, Lamel said in an interview. The tech industry underlined the importance of preserving an open Internet, network investment and keeping Internet applications, content and services free from communications regulation, he said. While the group’s member companies differ on what net neutrality rules should be and on the need for rules, they support the concept of an open Internet and the important role network management plays in the proper operating of the Internet, he said. Regulators should focus on the areas of general agreement, he said.

With job losses across sectors in 2009, the tech sector was one of the last sectors to be hit by the recession and could be one of the first ones helping to pull the nation out of the recession, Bond said. The communications services sector shed 53,000 jobs in 2009 vs. a loss of 11,000 in 2008, said the report, which relies on data from the Bureau of Labor Statistics. California led the nation in net technology job creation in 2008, adding 15,700 jobs, while Virginia, for the fourth straight year, led the nation in concentration of high-tech workers in 2008, with 95 high-tech workers per 1,000 private sector workers. The high-tech industry pays its workers well --some 86 percent more than the average private sector wage nationwide, the report said.