"We are very optimistic about the IT employment for 2008 in Michigan," says Vic Serraiocco, branch manager for IT recruiter Sapphire Technologies in the Detroit region. "As many of our local companies begin to execute new business strategies, IT needs become more clearly defined. Feedback we are hearing indicates that 2008 IT spending is budgeted to increase over 2007 levels."

Other recent surveys and indicators also reveal cause for cautious optimism. IT staffing consultancy Robert Half Technology's fourth-quarter IT Hiring Index found an impressive 17 percent of Detroit CIOs planned to make new hires during the period, the third highest number of any city the company tracks. Only 3 percent of CIOs planned to reduce staff.

Meanwhile, the quarterly Manpower Employment Outlook Survey, which covers all industries, found that from October to December, 25 percent of the companies interviewed planned to hire more employees, said Manpower spokesperson Laura Reed.

"As budget season begins, over 80 percent of hiring managers we have spoken to indicate an increase in IT spending for 2008," added Serraiocco. "From what we have seen, the in-demand skill sets have stayed consistent, including Java and .NET development, system administration, security, and high-level support."

That should be good news for local IT expert Matt Watten, who expresses nothing but frustration. "I am having a challenging time finding new opportunities either in desktop support or systems administration," he says. "I have been trying to relocate to another state for the last two years, and have had very few opportunities. Salaries seem stagnant. My average increase has been 2 percent, if that, and I haven't seen much opportunity for upward mobility."

And what about the fact that Michigan's traditional manufacturing sector continues to wither? Serraiocco looks for a silver lining. "Even as the manufacturing sector works to right-size itself, thousands of IT positions still exist in this area," he says. "As companies continue to define what competencies they will perform internally, a great need will arise for contract IT professionals."

According to the most recent figures from the AeA's annual Cyberstates report, Michigan remains the 10th-ranked cyberstate, employing 177,600 workers with a total payroll of $13 billion. Venture capital investments rose by 25 percent, totaling $101 million, in 2006.

"Ironically, while much of the rest of the country is seeing its tech manufacturing base erode while its services sectors grow, Michigan is seeing just the opposite," says Ed Longanecker, executive director of the AeA Midwest Council. The Cyberstates report says Michigan has 9,100 high-tech establishments (ranked 14th nationwide) and tech employs 48 of every 1,000 private sector workers (ranked 21st nationwide). Industry leaders including Compuware, EDS, IBM and ProQuest all have local presences.

Perhaps the best news for Detroit's IT labor market comes from Dice itself. IT job listings for the city rose a strong 14 percent in the third quarter, the largest increase for any of the 20 metro areas that Dice tracks in its local market reports. While there's no single explanation for this optimistic indicator, it does suggest the city is finding ways to embrace technology in new ways.