Headlines on the business pages these days speak of the AT&Ts, Lucents, Avayas, Verizons and a myriad of telecom and high-tech firms. The 476 unsung electronics manufacturing facilities in the state and the 85,286 electronics workers earning $35 billion in salaries make the electronics industry the secondlargest employer in the state.

According to figures compiled by the New Jersey Commerce & Economic Growth Commission and PSE&G, New Jersey is among the top five states in the number of such electronic manufacturers. This sector of the economy is projected to grow 30 to 40 percent each year into this century. Many of these firms are global and New Jersey has registered the third-highest export growth rate in the last four years. The electronics industry is buttressed by such institutions as New Jersey Institute of Technology, Stevens Institute, Rutgers University and Princeton. On the corporate research side are such renowned names as Bell Labs and Sarnoff Corporation.

New Jersey draws every facet of the electronics industry including manufacturers, distributors and value-added resellers to system integrators and retailers. just drive along Route 46 or 22 and you'll see a series of signs proclaiming electronics retailers: P. C. Richards, Circuit City, The Wiz and 6th Avenue Electronics, to name a few.

Keeping tabs on this industry is the AeA, Advancing the Business of Technology, which has a New JerseyPennsylvania Council headquarters at the Anadigics facility in Warren. The AeA had been known for years as the American Electronics Association. Chairman Bill Kroll, who is CEO of Matheson Tri-gas, based in Parsippany, and Executive Director Linda K. Klose head the Council, which has 100 members (the national association has 3,500 member firms). The charts accompanying this article were supplied by the AeA Council.

The AeA produces each year an indepth study of the industry in late January, it released its Cyberstates 2001: A State-by-State Overview of the High-Technology Industry in conjunction with The NASDAQ Stock Market. That report finds that New Jersey's tech workers made $71,800 in 1999, the 5th highest average wage in the nation. New Jersey's tech workers made 76 percent more than did the state's private sector workers. The average high-tech wage in New Jersey grew by 22 percent, or by $13,000, between 1994 and 1999, adjusted for inflation.

Cyberstates 2001 also examines 2,000 electronics merchandise exports from each state. New Jersey exported $3.9 billion worth of high-tech goods, an increase of $1.5 billion from 1997, the 7th largest increase in the nation. Exports from the high-tech industry represents 21 percent of the total exports from New Jersey

An important factor driving New Jersey's technology industry is venture capital. New Jersey received $4 billion in venture capital investments last year - the 6th ranked state by this measure. R&D is also an important factor and New Jersey ranked 5th in that, with expenditures of $11.4 billion.

"New Jersey is an important high-tech center for the nation's growing tech industry," says Kroll. "We are proud to be the fifth largest state in data processing and information services employment."

Executive Director Klose says Cyberstates 2001 also reports that New Jersey lags in technology in the classroom in elementary and secondary schools. it ranked 30Lh in the nation by Internet-connected computers per student, with an average of seven students per Internet computer in 2001. It is a substantial improvement from 1998, when the ratio was 29-1.

The state's high school students ranked 10th on the SAT college entrance exam of the 24 states where a majority of seniors take the SAT. Also, the state ranked third nationwide in the percent of high schools offering advanced placement courses. New Jersey is one of only 18 states to require a high school exit exam and it requires its high school graduates to complete four years of English, three years of math and three years of science.

CyberEducation also examines teacher qualifications. Of concern, 30 percent of high school math teachers in New Jersey did not hold a major or minor in math in the year tested. Yet, at 13.8 students per teacher, New Jersey was ranked third for teacher/student ratio. The average New Jersey teacher earns more than $10,000 over the national average with a salary of $52,200 in 2000.

Kroll notes, "The latest CyberEducation data shows that New Jersey needs to continue its efforts to bring quality education and technology to all students. While New Jersey's high school graduation rates are at 90 percent, this still means that 10 percent of the population does not have the skills or education to enter college or even the technology workforce. These students will be left behind entirely in today's tech economy."

Governor James E. McGreevey has made education a top priority. The New Jersey Department of Education oversees the education of some 1.4 million public and non-public elementary and secondary school children. McGreevey has made a number of speeches in recent weeks about increasing the level of high-tech education and building a consensus among government, academia and the business community to create a workforce equipped for today's and tomorrow's high-tech marketplace.

"If we do not improve our high-tech education, we will be leaving some students behind," the Governor says.