The computer and electronic product manufacturing industry employed 1.5 million wage and salary workers in 2002. Few workers were self-employed.

The industry comprised about 21,000 establishments in 2002, many of which were small, employing only one or a few workers. Large establishments of 250 workers or more employed the majority-63 percent-of the industry’s workforce.

Under the new North American Industry Classification System (NAICS), workers in R&D establishments that are not part of a manufacturing facility are included in a separate industry-research and development in the physical, engineering, and life sciences. However, due to the importance of R&D work to the computer and electronic product manufacturing industry, computer and electronic product-related R&D is discussed in this article even though a large proportion of the associated workers are not included in the employment data.