South Dakota's Quarterly Census of Employment and Wages - 2006

Information Industry Group

Businesses within the information industry group distribute information and cultural products or process data.

Information Industry

The information industry experienced a gain of 197 workers (2.9 percent) from 2005 to 2006, for a total of 6,953 workers in 2006. The information industry also had a positive change in pay, with a gain of $1,394 (3.9 percent) from 2005 to the level of $36,781 in 2006.

The information industry is composed of establishments engaged in telecommunications, publishing, motion picture and sound recording, broadcasting, internet broadcasting and publishing, internet service providers, web search portals, and data and other information services.

Telecommunications saw the largest growth in 2006, with an increase of 176 workers (6.2 percent). Average employment in this subsector now totals 3,020. Wired telecommunication carriers, in particular, demonstrated strong hiring. Contributing to the growth among wired telecommunications carriers are those providers in some areas of South Dakota who are extending fiber optic cable to residential customers, enabling them to offer cable television, video-on-demand, high-speed Internet and conventional telephone communications over a single line.

Other subsectors that experienced small gains were the publishing, motion picture and sound recording, and the internet publishing and broadcasting industries. The workers added were 18 for publishing, 26 for motion picture and sound recording, and 12 for the internet publishing and broadcasting industry.

The subsectors experiencing decreases in worker levels were the broadcasting, internet service providers, web search portals, and the data and other information services subsectors. All the decreases in these three subsectors were minimal. Broadcasting declined by 20 workers, internet service providers, web search portals and data industry declined by 11 workers, and the other information services industry declined by three workers.  

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If you have questions or need more information, contact Ron Meier of the Labor Market Information Center at (605) 626-2314 or e-mail him at ron.meier@state.sd.us.