If Florida isn’t high on your list of high-tech states, it should be. Florida's statewide high-tech industry employment added 10,900 net jobs, or by four percent, for a tech industry total of 276,400 jobs in 2005, the most current state data available. This makes Florida the 4th ranked cyberstate by tech industry employment and the 2nd fastest growing cyberstate in the country, according to a Cybercities report issued today by the American Electronics Association (AeA).
Miami/Fort Lauderdale was the state's largest technology hub, employing some 75,300 tech industry workers in 2005, the most recent metropolitan data available. Following Miami/Fort Lauderdale in tech employment was Tampa/St. Petersburg (55,900 jobs), Orlando (42,600), Palm Bay/Melbourne (20,900), and Jacksonville (18,200). Palm Bay/Melbourne had the highest concentration of tech workers in Florida as a percentage of the overall private sector workforce, 119 out of every 1,000 private sector workers, and they received the state's highest average tech wage, $65,800 in 2005.
Some other key points in the Florida Cybercities 2007 report:
· Miami/Fort Lauderdale was the leading cybercity in Florida with the most tech workers (75,300), followed by Tampa/St. Petersburg (55,900) and Orlando (42,600).
· Palm Bay/Melbourne had the highest concentration of tech workers in Florida, 119 out of every 1,000 private sector workers.
· Orlando added the most tech jobs, 2,500 in 2005.
· Fort Walton Beach had the highest tech job growth rate, 26 percent in 2005.
· Palm Bay/Melbourne's tech workers had the highest average tech wage, $65,800 in 2005.
The report says many people in Florida may not realize that the state employs more tech workers than every state but California, Texas, and New York. But there are issues with Florida. Florida has huge potential to grow, but there are problems to overcome. The biggest challenge for Florida tech firms: finding workers here, Maryann Fiala, the executive director of the American Electronics Association's Florida Council told the MiamiHerald.com. The lower cost of living keeps salaries down in some cases as well.
If you want to know what you should be making, take a look at Network World’s Salary Survey and Calculator here.
While Florida should still be on the radar screen, if you are looking for a high-tech job, California is your best bet. That seemed to be the conclusion of the AeA’s Cyberstates report in April. In that report California added 14,400 tech jobs and employed 919,300 tech workers, more than double No. 2 Texas and more than triple No. 3 New York in 2006. California's tech workers were the highest paid nationwide, averaging $95,300 — 109% above the state's average private sector wage. Virginia surpassed Colorado as the state with the highest concentration of tech workers as a percentage of the private sector workforce.
Highlights of the Cyberstates report included:
· U.S. high-tech employment totaled 5.8 million in 2006, up by 146,600, or by three percent.
· Tech employment had grown by 87,400 in 2005 and declined by 44,700 in 2004.
· High-tech manufacturing industry employment grew by 5,100 jobs between 2005 and 2006, the first growth since 2000.
· The biggest 2005-2006 manufacturing job gains were recorded in the semiconductor sector, which added 10,900 net jobs, up five percent.
· The software services industry added 88,500 jobs in 2006.
· The engineering and tech services industry added 66,300 jobs in 2006.
· U.S. high-tech venture capital totaled $12.7 billion in 2006, up by two percent.
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