"Missouri's high-tech industry has turned the corner and is adding jobs again for the first time since the tech bubble began to burst in 2000," said Ed Longanecker, executive director of AeA's Midwest Council, in the group's 2007 Cyberstates report. However, he continues: "Many in the Show Me State, including officials in Jefferson City, may not understand how critical high-tech is to the entire state's economy. Tech industry jobs pay wages that are 81 percent higher than the average private sector wage in Missouri."

Are there any pockets of activity? Is the message getting through? "I am trying to be as optimistic as possible in regards to IT employment in St. Louis," says Gabe McDonald, team lead for IT recruiter Sapphire Technologies. "There are a lot of economic factors affecting the working world, and St. Louis is not immune to them. The fact is that the city has shown a strong commitment to its development and has given Fortune 500 companies a reason to inhabit this town. As more companies look at St. Louis as a suitable home for their organizations, more opportunities will be created for IT professionals."

At the moment, though, things look tight. MasterCard, a big St. Louis presence, has just 18 local technology jobs available. Anheuser-Busch, another local giant, has just two MIS openings.

McDonald's best suggestion: "In the St. Louis market there is always a demand for network professionals. Network engineers are also in hot demand because there is a strong telecommunications presence here. AT&T has a large operation, and this creates a lot of opportunities for networking experts." At the moment, however, AT&T is listing only one entry-level spot on its St. Louis career board.

Other large St. Louis companies worth investigating include Boeing, Emerson Electric, Ameren Corp., Monsanto, Express Scripts and Peabody Energy. And, St. Louis County-based Edward Jones was among the nation's 100 best information technology employers for 2005, according to ComputerWorld magazine.

IT staffing consultancy Robert Half Technology's fourth-quarter IT Hiring Index found a disappointing 9 percent of St. Louis-area CIOs plan to make new hires this quarter. That's the lowest prediction from any of the 30 major metro areas the company tracks. Figure in the fact that 4 percent of CIOs actually plan to cut staff, and the prediction becomes even more glum. On Dice, St. Louis job hunters typically have between 1,000 and 1,100 job listings to search so far this year.

In 2006, statewide venture capital investments of $81.2 million set Missouri at 23rd in the U.S. Perhaps the St. Louis Arch Angels, a local venture capital firm founded in 2005, can help spur more innovation in the future.

In the meantime, St. Louis looks like a relatively tough market for IT experts hoping to move their careers along. Next quarter's job listings on Dice should provide some indication of whether an upswing is on the way.