COEUR d'ALENE - High technology remains a significant contributor to Idaho's economy despite thousands of layoffs before and during the harshest recession in two generations, according to a report released Friday by the Idaho Department of Labor.

High-tech accounted for 7 percent of both total employment and business establishments in Idaho in 2008. It accounted for 17 percent of total wages.

Figures for 2008 are nearly a full percentage point below the sector's 2006 peak for employment and payroll, but high technology continues to pump billions of dollars a year into Idaho. It injects nearly $4 billion in wages.

Some high-tech firms here are doing much better than others.

Linda Johnson, marketing director at Transtector Systems in Hayden, part of Protection Technology Group, said, "We've got (job) postings, we're growing - cautiously. We feel very fortunate to be in a position to offer strong jobs in North Idaho."

She said Transtector's products and services support communications applications in a broad range of markets, including telecommunication, transportation, energy, military and others.

"Protecting communications equipment makes sense even in a down economy," Johnson said.

Even after the sector went into decline, Idaho still ranked 29th among U.S. states in the percentage of its workforce employed in high-tech, 31st in the percentage of businesses in the high-tech sector and seventh in the ratio of the average high-tech paycheck to the average wage statewide.

High-technology workers in Idaho averaged more than $70,000 a year in 2008, compared with the statewide average wage of just under $34,000, according to the state. That was hardly changed from the peak year of 2006.

High technology goods, primarily computer chips, also have dominated the state's exports, typically running at more than 70 percent of total value until 2008. They slipped to 65 percent in 2009.

While still a boon to the state overall, the economic impact of high technology varies regionally.

Nearly half the 2008 high-tech payroll was in the southwestern part of the state, Idaho's most populous and the home of Micron Technology Inc. Micron began Idaho's high-tech employment contraction in 2007.

Eastern Idaho claimed a quarter of the wages, benefiting from the Idaho National Laboratory's presence and the spin-off businesses it fosters.

South central Idaho, known primarily for agriculture, had a surprising 18 percent of the high-tech payroll, the Department of Labor said.

The other three regions of the state, including North Idaho, had only fractional shares of high-tech wages.

And even though the sector has suffered a setback during the recession, a number of high technology occupations remain on the list of those that pay well and will be in high demand in the years to come.

Those on the department's projected "Hot Jobs" through 2016 are computer-software engineers, system analysts and administrators, and computer support specialists.

The Coeur d'Alene metropolitan area last month broke a three-month run of single digit unemployment rates, edging up a third of a point to 10 percent. The rate was in double digits from August 2009 through March. Shoshone County had the highest unemployment rate in July at 12.6 percent, according to the department.