The value added generated by industrial sectors with high and medium high levels of technological content registered 59% nominal growth in the period 1995-2000, thirteen percent higher than the increase registered by the whole of industry (46%), according to Eustat data. Personnel employed in these sectors increased by 27% in the five years analysed, while the evolution of employment in the whole of industry was a 22% rise.

While a period of five years is relatively short for large technological changes to be produced in the industrial structure, comparative data enables us to appreciate a more dynamic evolution in the industrial sectors with high or medium high levels of technological content with regard to the rest of the industrial sectors between 1995 and 2000.

The industrial sectors with a high level of technological content doubled their value added between 1995 and 2000, employment registered a 75% increase and sales multiplied threefold. Their relative weight in the whole of industry in the A.C. of the Basque Country grew from 1.8% to 2.6% in terms of value added. Among them, the most important by comparison are the Aeronautical and Electronic material sectors.

Those sectors with a medium high level of technological content have also performed better than the average for industry: sales increased by 74.5%, value added increased by 56.3% and employment generated grew 23.1% in the five-year period considered. The following stand out for their relative weight and/or rates of evolution: Machinery and mechanical equipment, Motor vehicles and electric material.

Altogether, the sectors with high and medium-high levels of technological content employed over 73,000 persons in the year 2000, i.e. 31.7% of industrial employment generated 30.7% of the industrial value added and sales represented 33.3% of total sales for Basque industry.

The segment with a medium low level of technological content continued to be the largest proportion of Basque industry, representing 53% of industrial value added in the year 2000, although it fell one and a half percent over the five years (54.5% in 1995). Within this group, the most representative sector is Metal products (except Machinery and equipment), followed by Oil refining and Rubber and plastic.

Sectors with Low technological content, which include Paper, Timber and Food Products, represent 16.4% of industrial value added, but generate 20.8% of employment. This group is losing relative weight both in value added and sales.

By provinces we may point out some differential characteristics, although the basic structures are similar. Thus it may be said that in Álava the high technological segment has a higher relative weight (3,1%), Gipuzkoa boasts a higher percentage of relative representation of sectors with medium high technological content (36.4%) and in Bizkaia the segment of medium low technological content (62.4%) is above the average for the Autonomous Community in terms of value added and relative weight of each technological level.