CA Workers Lose Billions in Wages Due to I.T. Piracy
SACRAMENTO, CA — Protect California Jobs & Innovation (PCJI) Wednesday released the findings of a study conducted by the Orange County Business Council quantifying the economic and job impacts of software piracy in California.
Dr. Wallace Walrod, Chief Economic Advisor to the Orange County Business Council, authored the study, entitled the Economic Consequences of Software Piracy on California . Walrod found that California workers lost $1.1 billion in lost wages due to software piracy in 2011 and “California lost $1.66 billion in economic activity, almost 20,000 jobs, and $697.6 million in state and local tax revenue in 2011.”
“California’s information technology and computer software sectors are a large and growing driver of California’s economy,” Dr. Walrod said. “The health of this sector is a essential to the State’s meaningful economic recovery. Global software piracy disproportionately hurts California because the economic and employment benefits are concentrated here.”
California has lost almost 400,000 manufacturing and I.T. jobs over the past decade to developing countries where piracy rates are as high as 80 percent.
Related posts:
