Twin Cities tech employment grew 1.6 percent last year, but many jobs go unfilled

The Twin Cities added 3,300 technology jobs last year, up 1.6 percent to 199,200, and remained the nation's 14th-largest tech employment region, the Computing Technology Industry Association said.

The state added 3,500 tech jobs in 2017, growing 1.4 percent to 250,000, which is about 8 percent of Minnesota's workforce. Minnesota ranks 17th among states in tech employment, the trade group said.

CompTIA said the average tech industry wage in Minnesota is $97,680, well above the state's private sector average annual wage of $55,390.

Tim Herbert, CompTIA's vice president of research, said the Twin Cities and Minnesota experienced a slightly greater decline in the telecommunications sector than the nation did as a whole. Software employment grew more slowly in Minnesota than the national rate. However, Minnesota showed an increase in technology manufacturing jobs while the nation showed a decline.

The Twin Cities "outperformed for network architects, administrators and tech-support specialists," Herbert said.

Twin Cities employers are hungry for tech workers, from beginning help-desk employees to software developers. And programs are underway among employers, community colleges, nonprofit trainers and others to produce more workers in an economy where many jobs in technology and support, as well as lower-paying occupations, go unfilled.

Minnesota is home to 9,165 tech businesses, half of which are in the Twin Cities area, according to CompTIA.

Employers posted 15,235 job openings for tech occupations in the fourth quarter of 2017, mostly in the Twin Cities.

The CompTIA survey, drawn from sources such as the U.S. Bureau of Labor Statistics and U.S. Bureau of Economic Analysis, doesn't include everything tech. For example, Minnesota's fast-growing alternative energy business, primarily wind and solar, taps a lot of technology jobs.

Renewable-energy jobs, most of which are in wind and solar, grew by 16 percent to around 6,200 in Minnesota from 2015 to 2016, according to a 2017 study by Clean Energy Economy Minnesota.

The 10 largest tech-worker states are California, Texas, New York, Florida, Illinois, Virginia, Pennsylvania, Massachusetts and Michigan.

Neal St. Anthony • 612-673-7144