State's tech jobs decline
Colorado slips to No. 3 in 2005
Roger Fillion, Rocky Mountain News
Published April 24, 2007 at midnight
Move over Colorado. Make way for Virginia.
Colorado lost its bragging rights in 2005 as the state with the No. 1 concentration of high-tech workers. It's the first time that's happened in the 10 years the American Electronics Association has compiled the data.
A decline in Colorado's technology work force in 2005 helped drop the state to the No. 3 spot for the percentage of tech workers that make up its private-sector work force. Virginia was No. 1 and Massachusetts No. 2. Both states gained tech jobs.
Thirty-nine states and the District of Columbia added tech jobs in 2005, the latest data available. Colorado was one of 11 states (and Puerto Rico) to lose jobs.
Colorado's top ranking has been a point of pride and a selling point among state politicians and business leaders - though the high proportion of tech jobs also proved a curse after the 2000 Internet bubble hit the state hard.
Jon Nordmark, CEO of online retailer eBags.com, said falling behind Virginia and Massachusetts "is not terrible."
"However, I do think it's significant, because you never want to start slipping. One slip can lead to another slip, can lead to another," said Nordmark.
He added state leaders "need to watch this carefully and make sure we don't continue to deteriorate, modifying incentives and programs where necessary."
In Colorado, there were 85.76 high-tech workers for every 1,000 private-sector workers in 2005. It was 88.72 for every 1,000 in 2004. In 2005, Virginia had 89.02 high-tech workers for every 1,000 private-sector workers.
Unlike Colorado, where the tech work force slipped 1 percent, the nation as a whole gained tech jobs.
"You've been really hit by the consolidation of the telecom industry," said Matthew Kazmierczak, vice president of research and industry analysis at the AeA. "You'd actually be gaining jobs if it weren't for the telecom industry."
Colorado lost a net of 1,700 high-tech jobs in 2005, leaving its tech work force at 158,095, or No. 13 nationwide. It shed 2,600 telecom jobs in 2005. Jobs also were lost in the computer and computer-equipment manufacturing sectors.
Jobs were added here in computer programming, research and development testing labs, and engineering.
Only Kansas, which lost 2,000 tech jobs, topped Colorado's losses.
Aside from the loss of thousands of telecom jobs in recent years, Colorado's high-tech work force also has been depleted by out-of-state corporate purchases of three big homegrown tech companies: J.D. Edwards & Co., Storage Technology Corp. and McData Corp. Those deals resulted in hundreds of local layoffs.
Don McCubbrey, professor at the University of Denver's Daniels College of Business, said recent work force indicators are positive. He reported healthy demand for graduates with degrees in information systems.
"The job market has turned up nicely," he said.
Nationally, the high-tech work force added nearly 150,000 net jobs in 2006, for a total of 5.8 million. That was on top of the 87,400 jobs added in 2005.
On the upside, Colorado tech workers remain among the best paid in the nation, earning an annual average wage of $80,225 in 2005. That put the state at No. 7 nationally. The U.S. average was $75,501.
fillionr@RockyMountainNews.com or 303-954-2467
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