US and Vermont Add Tech Jobs and New Businesses in 2021 According to CompTIA’s State of the Tech Workforce Report
Vermont Ranks #1 in Percentage Increase in New Tech Businesses
Technology-related employment increased in 44 states in 2021, a testament to the broad-based impact of tech, according to the State of the Tech Workforce report released by CompTIA, the nonprofit association for the information technology (IT) industry and workforce.
This annual report focuses on a narrow set of core information technology and software jobs. The report shows that national employment in these professions increased by approximately 80,000 workers in 2021, a positive gain over the flat performance in 2020. Job growth was slower than expected as the nation navigated through year two of a pandemic, but the tech industry avoided the severe job losses that affected many other sectors.
The report lists net tech employment for Vermont in those categories at 15,961. This represents 5% of Vermont’s overall workforce, placing Vermont 23rd nationally in this measurement. While job growth was small in Vermont, Vermont ranked # 1 for the percentage increase in new tech business establishments at 11.6%, which is a positive trend. Additionally, these jobs make up 7.1% of the state’s economy and the estimated median wage of $76,943 is 81% higher than median state wage
Nationally, the report says 8.7 million people work in core tech-related occupations across the country, with tens of millions more employed as digital knowledge workers. The tech industry accounts for 9.3% of direct value in the U.S. economy – more than $1.8 trillion.
Data scientists and analysts, cybersecurity professionals, software developers, and computer and information research scientists lead the list of occupations expected to see strong growth in 2022.
In terms of absolute job growth by state, Texas and Florida outpaced all other states in tech job gains in 2021, followed by California, North Carolina and Washington. Given Vermont’s small size, it’s no surprise Vermont ranks 43 in the 50-state list. As the report notes, California’s economy is equal to the combined total of the bottom 25 states. Unsurprisingly, California is the leader in many categories.
That said, Vermont’s rank as a percentage of job growth year-over-year was 38 nationally. The top states in terms of percentage growth were Nevada (+3.3%), Tennessee (+2.9%), Rhode Island (+2.9%), Idaho (+2.7%) and Wyoming (+2.6%). Vermont’s position could be impacted by lower growth due to the pandemic, or the ongoing problem of finding workers to fill jobs. According to the report, there were 4,795 Vermont tech job postings in 2021.
Although the pandemic’s impact on the U.S. economy and labor market led some companies to reduce or postpone spending and hiring, the search for tech talent continued in 2021. Nearly three in 10 job postings were for jobs in emerging technologies or requiring emerging tech skills. The job posting data also confirms a dramatic shift in thinking about work location. Slightly over one million tech job postings (28% of the total) offered a work from home or hybrid work option. That’s a 77% increase over the 2019 pre-pandemic rate. In Vermont the numbers represented a 195% increase in work from home options compared to 2019.
The number of tech business establishments across the country increased by 5.3% in 2021, the equivalent of 25,500 businesses. Vermont experienced the largest increase by percent change (11.6%).
Here are the key Vermont statistics from the report:
- Net Tech Employment at 15,961
- 5% of the overall workforce, which places Vermont 23 nationally in this metric.
- Tech sector impact is $2.3B, or 7.1% of the state’s economy
- Estimated median wage of $76,943, 81% higher than median state wage
- 4,795 tech job postings in 2021. 195% increase in work from home options from 2019
- 1938 tech business establishments, which represents an 11.6% increase over 2019
