| April 2006 |
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| Dice job postings in Providence are up 13% |
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Software and IT firms in Rhode Island, along with four other New England states, had year-over-year revenue increases from near zero to 25 percent in the fourth quarter, according to a report from the Federal Reserve issued in March 2006.
And that is good news on the IT hiring front in the Providence metro area.
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"The economic expansion has matured to the point where corporate America feels it's safe to staff up," Ken Mayland, an economist at Clear View Economics, said.
Mayland expects the decline in the national unemployment rate in March, from 4.9 percent from 4.7 percent, to spur job growth across the board in Providence, especially in an already robust technology industry.
Technology job listings on Dice – the leading technology career site – for the Providence area increased 31 percent during a three-month period, from 531 in December to 697 in March.
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| “New technologies…are increasing on several fronts” |
| - Ken Mayland, Clear View Economics |
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While the job market for IT professionals seeking positions in Providence increased significantly, economists are predicting even bigger increases throughout the tech sector in 2006.
“New technologies, such as a range of industry components, and products are increasing on several fronts and should contribute to increasing the Providence job market,” Mayland said.
The most sought-after IT skills right now, according to Dice, include Java, SAP and Oracle.
“In recent months Providence has definitely seen an increased demand for IT employment,” Scot Melland, Dice CEO, said. “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.”
And tech salaries are indeed on the rise, according to several national indicators.
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 Moody’s Economy.com.
Tech professionals in the Providence area reported earning an average salary of $73,100 in 2005, according to a survey by Dice. This was 4 percent more than the average U.S. tech salary of $70,300.
This year alone should see the creation of 217,000 new tech jobs in the United States, Virendra Singh, a senior economist at Economy.com, said.
Singh also expects the job-growth trend to remain steady through at least 2010, with an additional 126,000 jobs created in 2007 and 123,000 more in 2008.
Mayland said he expects to see a strong level of “sustainability” in tech hiring throughout the region this year. “I’m pretty certain of it,” he said.
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| “Job growth trend to remain steady through at least 2010” |
| - Virendra Singh, Economy.com |
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