| April 2006 |
 |
|
The technology job market in Los Angeles is in a unique position to continue its strong growth while hitching its wagon to the city’s sexiest and biggest star: the movie industry.
While the tech sector in Southern California continues to shine, job growth is being spurred on by several economic factors. Perhaps the biggest factor is Los Angeles’ heavyweight ability to produce cutting edge technologies for one of the city’s oldest industries.
“It is a very hot time for Internet companies,” said Jon Kraft, chairman of the Southern California Software Council. “Things are taking off in L.A., especially in visual and digital media.”
|
|
And the city’s growing IT market has not escaped the attention of investors.
The venture capital industry invested $10.4 billion in California IT, while tech companies exported $47.8 billion of goods and services from California to countries around the world, according to a recent study conducted by AeA, the nation’s largest trade association for the high-tech industry.
"California continues to create wealth and innovation through our high-tech industry,” said Michael Leigh, CEO of Technology Market Force, and chairman of the AeA Los Angeles Council.
Technology job listings for the Los Angeles area on Dice, the leading technology career site, increased an impressive 16 percent during a recent three-month period, from 4,708 in December to 5,451 in March. The most sought-after IT skills right now, according to Dice, include Java, SAP and Oracle.
|
|
| “We've seen strong job growth in every tech sector in the area,” |
| - John Kraft, Chairman Southern California Software |
|
“What we are seeing in Los Angeles is similar to what is happening in much of the country,” said Scot Melland, CEO of Dice. “As the Internet economy continues to mature and grow, the need for talented people is growing along with it.”
Many of the hiring companies and recruiting agencies who use Dice are noticing a tight labor market, while salaries are starting to trend higher as a result, according to Melland.
And these trends are consistent for much of the country. This year alone should see the creation of 217,000 new tech jobs in the United States, according to Moody’s Economy.com, making for the best year the industry has seen since it flattened toward the end of 2000.
Virendra Singh, a senior economist at Economy.com, said he 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 jobs on the rise, wages are also trending upward.
Nationwide, the average high-tech salary grew 5.1 percent in 2005, a telling leap compared to a year earlier, when it grew at 4.3 percent, according to Economy.com.
Tech professionals in the Los Angeles area reported earning an average salary of $73,600 in 2005, $3,300 more than the overall U.S. average, according to a survey by Dice.
“We’ve seen strong job growth in every tech sector in the area,” Kraft said. “As a result we are seeing companies struggle with finding qualified candidates to fill much needed jobs.”
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.
|
|
|
|
|
| “What we are seeing in L.A. is similar to what is happening in much of the country” |
| - Scot Melland, CEO of Dice |
 |
 |
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
