Where the IT Jobs Are

North Carolina has become a hotbed for IT jobs; Denver, Atlanta and Chicago keep growing and St. Louis has emerged as one of the top IT job markets, according to TEKsystems.

Below is TEKsystems ranking of the top 10 markets where it has seen the most demand for IT workers. The company reports that the majority of IT worker demand is in specialized job roles: business analysts, project managers, .NET developers and mobility application developers, for example.

Across the 10 top IT job markets, TEKsystems Market Research Analyst Jason Hayman sees common denominators driving IT job growth: industries—such as healthcare, finance and energy—responding to new regulations or legislations. “They have to hit new levels of efficiency or reporting, and/or they’re moving information from paper forms to electronic storage,” says Hayman. “In all of those instances, that’s were people need IT. That’s where we are seeing demand.”

North Carolina boasts not one but three markets in TEKsystems Top 10 IT Job Markets: Greensboro (#1), Raleigh (#3) and Charlotte (#8). TEKsystems has seen the region’s demand for IT workers has grown steadily for three to five years.

Hayman notes the Greensboro market is growing in synergy with the Raleigh-Durham’s Research Triangle Park, thanks in part to the region’s cheaper, skilled labor; lower cost of living, pleasant climate and large university systems (UNC, Duke). “It continues to become a hot, growing city,” says Hayman.

Denver (#2) has seen steady IT job growth for many years, as more companies and workers migrate out of Silicon Valley. Telcom and finance have been strong for years, but Denver cultivated a cleantech/alternative energy industry that’s now augmenting its energy sector. In addition, Hayman notes, the Rocky Mountain lifestyle is attracting a lot of Gen-Y professionals filling the demand for IT. “It’s become the hip new place.”

Supported in part by the energy industry, IT jobs in Texas in general have remained immune to the recession, and Dallas emerges as #4 on TEKsystems top markets for IT jobs list.  Hayman notes that “As energy and utilities are hit with green legislation, they’re hiring IT workers and IT companies to help them cut costs and make their systems more efficient and effective—to make sure emissions and security features on an automated pipeline meet EPA standards, for example.”

Government mandates with aggressive deadlines are also driving health care companies’ demand for IT workers, as can be seen in Atlanta (#5, a big healthcare, telcom town).  Among both healthcare providers and insurers, “Companies just can’t get enough IT workers with healthcare experience,” said Hayman.

IT systems support the financial industry’s need for increased transparency (as required by the Dodd–Frank Wall Street Reform and Consumer Protection Act) and faster transaction processing, and that drives IT job creation.  “That’s where New York’s IT job market (#6) really benefits,” says Hayman.

In the Baltimore/Washington, DC, market (#7), healthcare and financial firms, plus government and its contractors help drive IT employment. Fort Meade is transforming into an intelligence center, with the expansion of the National Security Agency and the establishment of the U.S. Cyber Command. “They’re installing lots of new facilities, and we expect that to drive a big spike in IT job demand that will eventually level off,” says Hayman.

This is the first time that St. Louis (#9) appeared on TEKsystems top IT job markets list, and Hayman sees an increased IT hiring activity among St. Louis manufacturers and healthcare companies.

As an IT market, Chicago (#10) is similar to New York City, with its large finance and insurance sectors.

Source: SIA (Staffing Industry Analysts) and TEKsystems proprietary data