Monday, July 24, 2006

Demand for metro Boston tech workers on the rise

By Christopher Calnan

Metropolitan Boston is leading the nation in the rate of growth in the number of technology job postings, according to a new report.

Dice.com, a career website for technology workers, reported that technology job vacancies in metro Boston increased 35.4 percent so far this year.

The increase in demand is causing a 15 percent to 20 percent increase in salaries, said John Danieli, president and chief executive of The Computer Merchant Ltd., a 26-year-old technology recruiting firm in Norwell.

"It's back to the bidding wars again," he said. "We see this (rise in salaries) and say, 'that's part of the trend.'"

The Dice.com report lists 2,973 technology jobs available as of the last day of June, ranking the Boston-metro area as No. 7 in the nation for technology job listings.

Danieli said Boston's housing costs coupled with its extremes in weather make it more difficult to recruit technology workers when compared with areas such as Las Vegas; San Jose, Calif.; or Phoenix.

Earlier this month, a study commissioned by the Nellie Mae Education Foundation projected that Massachusetts will continue to see a outflow of college graduates in the next decade.

The Boston area's tech job market has been changing and approaching 1998 conditions, said Joe Donahue, president of Microtech Staffing Group in Quincy. "It looks like we're going down that path," he said.

The shortage will probably continue for a while, said Joyce Plotkin, president of the Mass Technology Leadership Council.

"It's great to see the competition for people and see things vibrant and more dynamic than it has been," Plotkin said.