The US Bureau of Labor Statistics has just released new stats covering 23 states indicating that Texas has taken the number one spot in terms of greatest growth among tech worker positions for the first half of the year. According to the statistics, the job growth in Texas is so good that the state now ranks just behind California for having the most employed technology professionals. Overall, Texas employs approximately 143,300 tech workers compared to California’s 250,000.
On the other hand, if you look at state growth rates specifically for tech jobs then you’ll notice that California doesn’t even break the top 10 for positions added during the first half of 2014. In addition to that, Texas increased its tech job count by nearly 6% after adding 8,100 tech jobs. According to President of Dice (who published the findings) Shravan Goli, “Texas’ tech employers are looking to the future, with plenty of mobile, Big Data and software developer openings on Dice from Austin to Dallas to Houston.”
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According to a spokesman from Dice, there is an explanation as to why California doesn’t break the top 10: technology. According to the spokesman, a number of companies are starting to employ technology in various aspects, meaning that “every company is becoming a tech company.”
In addition to that, there have been a number of new areas cropping up that are being labeled as “tech hubs”. Smaller cities are increasing technology-themed positions. These positions are outpacing the growth that even Silicon Valley, the arguable focal point for technology development in the world, can produce. Then again it may just be that California is already packed to capacity with tech jobs and would have a hard time maintaining a consistent and large growth rate.
In addition to Texas, other states that hit the top 10 included Florida at #2 with a 5.64% increase and North Carolina at #3 with a 3.8% increase. Dice didn’t get into specifics as to why North Carolina was experiencing such growth but did remark on Florida’s rather impressive turnaround. According to Goli, “In just the first six months of 2014, Florida created nearly as many tech jobs (4,100) as the state did in all of last year (4,500). Tech hiring and availability of professionals has become a campaign issue during the gubernatorial election.”
Texas has always been one of the biggest states for tech conventions, conferences and events and prime real estate for out-of-state techies that visit the state. Could this new influx of tech jobs in the state make Texas the next Silicon Valley? Only time will tell.