| July 2006 |
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| San Bernardino and surroundings are dedicated to attracting technology jobs |
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| It may not be surprising to learn that Northern California has 439,000 high-tech workers, but did you know that Southern California has 418,000? When it comes to technology, there's more to the Golden State than just Silicon Valley.
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Alcoria. Apex Digital. AVID. Make a list of technology companies that call San Bernardino and the Inland Empire home, and those are just some of the A’s. Like the rest of California, this region is benefiting from an overall upswing in activity in the technology space. Venture capital is rushing in and across the state, 35% of workers say that their organizations are in hiring mode, according to the most recent Hudson Employment Index. A total of 41 of the 100 fastest growing high-tech companies on the most recent Business 2.0 magazine list call California home.
It comes as little surprise that AeA, the nation’s largest trade association for the high-tech industry, has identified San Bernardino-Riverside as the second fastest-growing California cybercity in its 2006 report. The Inland Empire Economic Partnership (IEEP) says that there are 200,000 degreed workers in the area and with an influx of population, capital and innovation, the region has become "a hot zone for high-tech companies
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| San Bernardino area employers expect to hire at a rapid pace |
| - quarterly Manpower Employment Outlook Survey |
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According to the IEEP, all five of the occupations with the fastest job growth in San Bernardino County are technology related: computer support specialist, computer software engineer (systems), computer software engineer (applications), network administrator, and network systems and data communications analyst. The list for adjoining Riverside County is much the same. And with a mean annual wage of around $68,500, the jobs are attractive, especially when you consider that the cost of living in the Inland Empire is far less than it is along the coast in San Diego and the cities of Orange County.
Jobs are definitely being created. The quarterly Manpower Employment Outlook Survey has found that in the third quarter, San Bernardino area employers expect to hire at a rapid pace. Of the companies interviewed, 40% plan to hire more employees, while none plan to reduce their payrolls, according to Manpower spokesperson Evlyn Wilcox. That’s a marked improvement over the second quarter, when 13% reported they planned to reduce headcount, according to Wilcox.
At Dice.com, the number of tech job listings in San Bernardino held steady, ending at 119 listings in June.
Kevin Knaul, Executive Vice President of IT and Telcom for Hudson, the large national job placement firm, sees an inevitable migration of people and jobs into the area. "Companies see the population trends and follow the crowd to where they know the employees of the future will be."
In fact, you could call San Bernardino-Riverside a "boomtown." That's what Inc. magazine said in its recent list of best cities in which to do business. The magazine studied 393 population centers across the country using job creation and entrepreneurial spirit as two important factors and found that San Bernardino-Riverside came in at number five among the 60 largest cities. Inc. went so far as to proclaim a “revenge of the boondocks," as growth shifts from traditional urban centers to smaller cities. From boondocks to boomtowns, that's the story of the Inland Empire.
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| Dice job postings in San Bernardino are up 43% since Jan. |
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