| April 2006 |
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| Maryland just capped off its best year of job growth |
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It’s a good time to be job hunting for tech positions in the Baltimore area.
In fact, the problem in the metro area is no longer a scarcity of jobs but rather a shortage of qualified IT candidates available to fill growing staffing needs.
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“The tech job market here is quite strong with lower unemployment rates overall, at 3.6 percent, than most states,” said Anirban Basu, chairman and chief executive of Sage Policy Group Inc., an economic and policy consulting firm in Baltimore. “Now the issue seems to be finding qualified candidates for IT jobs.”
Maryland just capped off its best year of job growth since the technology boom went bust back in 2000, according to U.S. Labor Department numbers released in January, and local economists are predicting an even more robust 2006.
Even Baltimore, with one of the highest unemployment rates in the state, had an annual average increase of 2,300 jobs last year, and tech hiring was its best since before the 2001 recession, said Basu.
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| “The tech market in Maryland is kicking on six or seven of its eight cylinders,” |
| - Anirban Basu, Sage Policy Group Inc. |
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“We’ve seen strong demand for IT employment in the Baltimore area,” said Scot Melland, CEO of Dice, the leading technology career site. “Many of the hiring companies and recruiting agencies who use Dice observe a tightening labor market, and salaries are starting to trend higher as a result.”
This year alone should see the creation of 217,000 new tech jobs in the United States, according to Virendra Singh, a senior economist at Moody’s Economy.com. That would make 2006 the best year the industry has seen since it flattened toward the end of 2000.
Technology job listings on Dice increased 11 percent nationally during a three-month period, from 76,959 in December to 85,447 in March. The most sought-after IT skills right now, according to Dice, include Oracle, SAP and Java.
Singh also expects the job-growth trend to remain steady through at least 2010, with an additional 126,000 tech jobs created in 2007 and 123,000 more in 2008.
And it is not just tech jobs on the rise, wages are also trending upward.
Nationwide, the average high-tech salary grew 5.1 percent, to $69,000 in 2005, a telling leap compared to a year earlier, when it grew at 4.3 percent, according to a study conducted by Economy.com.
While the job market for IT professionals seeking a position in the Baltimore area has remained steady, economists predict 2006 will see solid increases in several tech areas throughout the year.
“The tech market in Maryland is kicking on six or seven of its eight cylinders,” Basu said.
If you would like to be interviewed for the next Dice market report, or if you have comments about this article, please contact us at feedback@dice.com.
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| “We’ve seen strong demand for IT employment” |
| - Scot Melland, Dice CEO |
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