Video Game Industry Grows Four Times Faster Than US Economy, ESA Says

The Entertainment Software Association (ESA) has published a new study that, among other things, claims the video game industry is growing at a rate four times faster than the US economy.

The new study, called Video Games in the 21st Century: The 2014 Report, also reveals that hiring trends for the video game industry are booming. From 2009 to 2012, the video game industry's annual job growth rate was 9 percent, which was 13 times the rate of the United States labor market at .72 percent

Check out the chart below to see employment trends across other US industries.

The ESA tapped consulting firm Economist Incorporated to conduct its new study, which also found that the video game industry directly employs more than 42,000 people across 36 states as of 2012. This is up by more than 30 percent compared to data from 2009.

In terms of what video game developers are being paid, the study found that the average wage in 2012 was around $95,000, up from $92,000 in 2009. Similar to other industries, video game employee salaries can vary dramatically depending on company, title, and role.

Some other key findings of the 2014 report, per The ESA, include:

• The US video game industry's value added to US Gross Domestic Product (GDP) was over $6.2 billion.
• The real annual growth rate of the US video game industry was 9.7 percent for the 2009-2012 period. This compares to a real growth rate for the entire US economy of 2.4 percent.
• California ranks highest in terms of total number of video game developers, with more than 17,000 employees in the state.
• The next closest was Texas, which had just under 5,000 video game employees. Other top-ranking states include Washington, New York, Massachusetts, Florida, and Illinois.

You can read the entire report here.