Tech Job Market to Grow in 2006

In 2005, roughly 125,000 new technology jobs were created, according to Moody’s Economy.com, HireStrategy reports.

Mark Zandi, Ecomony.com’s chief economist, predicts that 2006 will see the creation of 217,000 new positions with increasing wages, making for the best year the technology industry has seen in more than half a decade.

The pace of hiring growth may not compare to the boom in the late 1990s, when the industry provided some 300,000 jobs a year, but it is on track to create an average of 150,000 jobs annually. 

Heavy hitters like Microsoft, Accenture, Amazon, Infosys and Citrix Systems all have plans to add more U.S. tech positions in 2006. 

“We’ve been hiring at a rate of 10 people per day” for the last year or so, said Lynn Fox, a Google spokeswoman.

The telecommunications industry may also see an increase in employment in 2006 for the first time since 2001.  In 2005, the industry dropped some 1,500 jobs, according to the U.S. Bureau of Labor Statistics (BLS); however, in November, it added 2,000.

The wireless industry will continue to grow, with broadband responsible for much of the increase in employment by traditional phone companies.

Consulting firms will flourish after adding nearly 34,000 new positions in 2005, the highest number of new jobs in any category tracked by the BLS.

Wages are also on the rise.  In 2005, the average high tech salary grew more than 5 percent, to $69,000. In 2004 it grew 4.3 percent, according to Economy.com.  Zandi predicts salaries will increase in 2006 by mid-to-high single digits.

“The market is just now to the point where employees are gaining some leverage with their employers,” Zandi said.

-Al Sacco