US electronics industry employment fell by 40,000, or 1.6%, in 1986, according to the American Electronics Association, which estimates that 2.50m people were employed in domestic electronics at the end of last year. By sector, employment in the computer manufacturing sector fell by 5.1% to 405,000, but software and programming jobs increased 7.2% to 220,600. After the big 1985 shakeout, semiconductor employment fell 1% to 266,700. There was a 2.5% fall in employment in the communications equipment manufacturing industry, to 653,200 people. The figures are Association estimates drawn from data from the US Bureau of Labor Statistics.
