The high-tech industry shed about 4 percent of its 5.9 million jobs nationwide in 2009, according to government employment data compiled by the TechAmerica Foundation.
The overall nationwide loss of high-tech jobs follows four years of gains in the industry, but the loss is still below the 5 percent overall job loss in the private sector.
In 2008, the most recent year for state-specific data, Massachusetts gained 6,300 tech industry jobs. It was outpaced by California, Texas and Washington.
