2013: Missouri is again fastest-growing state for tech jobs

arch city · PostFeb 07, 2014#12014-02-07T18:42+00:00

Feb 7, 2014, 11:37am CST
Missouri is again fastest-growing state for tech jobs
St. Louis Business Journal
02/07/14

Looking for work in the tech sector? Missouri is the place to be.

For the second consecutive year, research from Dice.com, which tracks IT jobs, shows that Missouri is the fastest-growing state for technology employment.

The research shows Missouri gained 2,700 tech positions in 2013, an 8 percent increase compared with 2012. That percentage of growth was the best in the country, just ahead of Massachusetts (8.1 percent); Illinois (6.6 percent); and Texas (5.8 percent).

[SNIP]

Some of Missouri’s tech job success can be attributed to the startup scenes in St. Louis and Kansas City.

Jim Brasunas, executive director of the IT Enterpreneurial Network (ITEN), said St. Louis startups were responsible for nearly 1,000 jobs in 2013, up from 850 in 2012 and just 455 in 2010.

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roger wyoming II · PostFeb 07, 2014#22014-02-07T18:56+00:00

^ good to see! however, it also shows how daunting our situation is in Saint Louis metro with jobs.... 1,000 more tech jobs in the region is nice but a drop in the bucket for what is needed to really turn things around. Hopefully we'll see continued gains and at some point really be one of a few "it" places for tech.

arch city · PostFeb 07, 2014#32014-02-07T21:06+00:00

You are right and I agree. However, for St. Louis' ecosystem to be still in its infancy - that's not bad. This 1,000 tech jobs is in addition to the existing local tech jobs. In 2012, the region added 850 new tech jobs, so with the current numbers, that's 150 more jobs created over 2012. As time goes on, the numbers should build even more. One thousand jobs over twelve months is a lot, I think, for a region that has been largely a non-factor in tech.

It certainly doesn't seem like a lot jobs when giants such Google and Facebook alone were looking to add more than 5,000 jobs in Silicon Valley last year. Companies like National Instruments and Apple alone have been incrementally adding thousands of jobs in Austin. These regions have been in the tech game a lot longer so it's understandable to me why those region would get the bigger bounce in tech jobs from the tech giants. Those bulk jobs for those regions are skills-driven.

St. Louis' big job day will come if it keeps up the current momentum. With companies like Boeing and Express Scripts already adding bulk tech jobs, those jobs are certainly a catalyst for bigger IT growth in St. Louis.

Maybe in 2014, 1300-1500 IT tech jobs will be added. As local tech start-ups like Lockerdome, Aisle411, TrackBill, etc. become more popular they will be adding jobs. As initiatives and incubators like Launchcode, CIC, Code Red, Enstitute etc. etc. take off, St. Louis will become more competitive for the bulk tech jobs.

St. Louis has a ways to go to catch established tech metros like NYC (317,000 tech jobs), Washington DC (296,000) and Silicon Valley (226,000), which have been in the tech game a lot longer. (Source)

Apple's growing campus in Austin.

dredger · PostJul 02, 2015#42015-07-02T18:42+00:00

The business model and therefore the practices still amaze me every time I read articles on the Bay area. Two recent articles in San Fran Biz Journals. First, a CEO of a startup is moving jobs north to Seattle because the competition for employees in insane and what she is paying is even more insane even though she admits she won't save anything but might get someone to move to Seattle because house prices are cheaper. At same time, Wells Fargo bank exec gives fair warning at a San Fran conference and makes a pretty good comment from business perspective.

Which makes think that Square and its new payroll service that they are launching is really about getting bought then about a sound biz model. I don't see many San Fran startups choosing St. Louis over Seattle in short term. But find the people who have St. Louis connections and team them up with the strong corporate climate in St. Louis whether it WWT, Charter, Wells Fargo securities, Boeing who all have enough sense to be in the biz to make money instead of spending VC

http://www.bizjournals.com/sanfrancisco ... rmark.html

So we felt like we just weren’t able to appeal to the full pool of talent that’s out there, and that’s kind of a bummer,” Morrill said. “You just have to pay them a lot. You have to pay them incredible amounts, amounts I never even imagined I would offer people.”

Morrill knows Seattle is also highly competitive, and she doesn’t really expect to save much money. But she said Seattle has the kind of quality of life that may attract new hires from out of town.

http://www.bizjournals.com/sanfrancisco ... o-wfc.html

"When planning for the next three to five years, please don't draw a straight line," Silvia said, rattling off several measures of just how good things are in San Francisco today. Silvia spoke at the ForecastSF breakfast put on by the San Francisco Chamber of Commerce.

"There are too many people with good jobs here. You need to send some of those jobs to Cleveland or Pittsburgh or elsewhere," said Silvia, who is based in Charlotte, Wells Fargo's largest employment center.