Sandwiched between two big-city job markets, New York City and Boston, Hartford has had to fight hard when it comes to recruiting IT workers. But with a strong state economy, and with comparatively reasonable home prices, the insurance capital of America is anything but a second tier business center.

“The tech sector is moving along and should continue to benefit from the state’s highly educated workforce,” said Edward J. Deak, chairman of the economics department at Fairfield University.

Connecticut had its best year of job growth since the halcyon days of the technology boom, according to U.S. Labor Department numbers released in January, and local economists predict steady growth throughout 2006.

The Nutmeg state added 2,400 new jobs in February, according to the Connecticut Department of Labor.

And the state is making moves to spur high-tech job growth. A bill wending its way through the state legislature would allot $40 million to help develop fuel cells and other technologies.

Sen. Gary LeBeau, D-East Hartford, the state’s commerce committee chairman, told Dice.com the bill represents “a huge step toward Connecticut's high-tech job growth.”

While the job market for IT professionals seeking a position in Hartford has sustained steady growth, it remains competitive. The most sought-after IT skills right now, according to Dice, include Java, SAP and Oracle.

“Hartford has seen an increased demand for IT employment of late,” said Scot Melland, Dice CEO. “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.”

Technology job listings on Dice for the Hartford area increased 23 percent during a three-month period, from 456 in December to 559 in March.

And there are other incentives luring IT professionals to the city.

A study by research firm Sperling's BestPlaces and computer chip maker Intel Corp. shows Hartford to be the third best place to telework among 28 regions in the medium metro category.

This year alone should see the creation of 217,000 new tech jobs in the United States, according to a report by Economy.com, making for the best year the industry has seen since it flattened toward the end of 2000.

And it is not just jobs on the rise, wages are also trending upward.

Nationwide, the average high-tech salary grew 5.1 percent, a telling leap compared to a year earlier, when it grew at 4.3 percent, according to Economy.com.

Tech professionals in the Hartford area reported earning an average salary of $72,600 in 2005, according to a survey by Dice. This was 3.3 percent more than the average U.S. tech salary of $70,300.

“There are a lot of cost benefits by doing business in a place like Hartford,” Bert Sperling, president of the Oregon-based Sperling's BestPlaces, said. “And technology firms' willingness to allow employees to telework makes it that much more alluring for workers.”