Good News from our local San Jose Mercury News.... but at the same time creating friction between haves and haves-not.. will it?? instead of that, shouldn't it create aspirations for better focus on academics, maths, science?? Everyone should understand that there is no point in unnecessary grudge against math/science.. fortunately or unfortunately, under current circumstances, most of the hiring could be done locally instead of opening up or adding more H1Bs as it was done during dot.com boom.. But US needs to fix their education system and spend more focus and energy on academics and maths and science.. and leaders should be be clear in their message.. their is no running away or escaping from hard work or maths/science.. otherwise, the jobs being created now in this sector will be ultimately taken away or will be gone to India/China.. and that would be real catastrophe.. as American companies will survive but American's won't..
Tech hiring leaves rest in the dust
While industry surges, other sectors in region are shrinking, slowing
By George Avalos
gavalos@bayareanewsgroup.com
Tech hiring in the Bay Area next year will outpace other industries — contributing to the creation of two economies whose fortunes have diverged, a report released Thursday said.
Bay Area technology companies are expected to increase their local workforce by 5 percent over the coming 12 months, stated a study commissioned by NOVA, a Sunnyvalebased economic development agency.
That could mean 28,000 new jobs in tech, based on this newspaper’s analysis of the number of technology jobs in the Bay Area, which was roughly 556,000 at the end of September.
Still, the sturdy gains predicted for tech represent a slowdown in hiring plans for the sector compared with a May survey of Bay Area tech companies. That report projected tech companies in the area planned to increase employment by 11 percent over a one-year period.
An estimated 58 percent of tech companies participating in the latest survey intend to hire more workers. The survey also found that 34 percent intend to keep staffing levels the same, while 2 percent plan cutbacks and 6 percent weren’t sure of their hiring plans. BW Research surveyed 50 technology companies in the South Bay, Peninsula and San Francisco, ranging from Fortune 500 companies to midsize and startup tech firms.“High tech is one of the industries you really want to be in,” said Josh Williams, president of BW Research, which conducted the survey in November for NOVA. “There is real demand to hire technology workers.”
Yet the surge in technology also has produced stark contrasts in economic fortunes in the region.
“Clearly there are two economies in Silicon Valley,” Williams said. “Tech is growing. But there are certain parts of the economy that are still shrinking.”
The seasonally adjusted jobless rate in Santa Clara County was 9.8 percent in October and 8.1 percent in the San Francisco-San Mateo- Marin region. In contrast, about 3 percent of tech workers in the Bay Area are unemployed, according to estimates supplied by Williams and other analysts.
“The tech industry is outpacing the rest of the economy,” said Brad Kemp, director of research with Beacon Economics.
If tech employment expands by 5 percent in the coming year in the Bay Area, that would be triple the growth rate for all industries in California and the nation that occurred over the year that ended in October.
“This is a perfect example of a core industry that is leading a recovery,” Kemp said.
Companies nationwide and worldwide are investing in equipment and software, hoping to squeeze every possible iota of productivity out of their workers and operations.
“Silicon Valley continues to benefit from a deep talent ecosystem that produces innovative products and services demanded throughout the world,” said Kris Stadelman, executive director of NOVA.
The survey, though, also determined that tech companies struggle with a scarcity of qualified workers.
“We found that 77 percent of the companies are having great difficulty or some difficulty in hiring people,” Williams said. “The recruitment process appears to be pretty challenging.”
Some technology employers said technology innovations are so rapid that even their existing workforce can’t keep up in some cases.
“We are moving into new market areas where our current people do not have experience in building or selling thetechnology,”onecompany representative told NOVA, which kept confidential the names of the companies that were surveyed.
Tech companies typically use a recruiting process that requires about eight to 10 weeks to scout for, and then hire, people with the right skill sets, NOVA found.
“The core skills that companies want are people with backgrounds in engineering, software design and programming,” Williams said. “Beyond that, they are also looking for specialists in mobile applications, cloud computing, and a convergence of skills in cloud and social media.”
Contact George Avalos at 925-977-8477. Follow him at twitter.com/george_avalos.
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