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Print Edition StoriesWednesday, February 3, 2010
By the numbers
New England technology companies look forward to hiring
By Mass High Tech staff
MHT's Jackie Noblett: VC funds run short in 2009
MHT's Galen Moore: Honoring innovation in New England
Companies born in the recession
New England tech companies may be putting the recession in their rearview mirrors based on hiring and confidence data collected by Mass High Tech in the fourth quarter of 2009.
Almost one third of the regional tech companies responding to MHT’s quarterly Pulse survey (30.8 percent) plan to grow their local head count by more than 10 percent in early 2010.
With 18.9 percent of the 567 respondents saying they will boost hiring by at least 20 percent, that marks the highest total for that hiring level in more than a year and a half. While biotech, medical and Internet companies were most likely to grow their staffs by at least 20 percent, growth was expected in all tech sectors.
Tech companies also expressed confidence that their own sectors would experience overall growth heading into 2010. In general there was stability in confidence levels versus the third quarter.
However those reporting that they were “not confident” fell to 8 percent from the 19.8 percent figure in the comparable quarter for 2008. In the biotech/medical sector 32.9 percent of respondents were “very confident” on industry growth, almost double the figure for Q4 2008 and up 10 percentage points from Q3 2009.
Source: Mass High Tech surveys
Expected local workforce change Q4 2009
Decrease — 0.9%
No change — 40.7%
1-4% Increase — 15.9%
5-9% Increase — 10.9%
10-19% Increase — 12.7%
20%-plus Increase — 18.9%
Base: 567 managers in N.E. tech companies
Technology sector growth confidence level Q4
Not confident — 8%
Confident — 38.9%
Moderately confident — 25.6%
Very confident — 20.2%
Don't know — 7.3%
Base: 563 managers in N.E. tech companies
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