Technology employment made gains across the nation in 2021, and the Phoenix metro was one of the top beneficiaries of that trend.
Phoenix landed at No. 10 for net tech job gains in 2021 — adding 1,008 positions last year — and No. 11 for overall net tech employment, according to tech industry organization CompTIA’s recent State of the Tech Workforce report, which examined the state of the tech workforce.
The report said that the tech sector in the Valley made a $25.5 billion economic impact, which was 9.3% of the metro area’s overall impact.
The Valley has 158,137 people working in tech jobs, according to the report, which described Phoenix as a metro that is sometimes “under the radar” as a tech city that is demonstrating growth, along with places such as Austin, Texas; Raleigh and Charlotte, North Carolina; Detroit, Orlando and others.
Workers in the tech sector make up 7% of the overall Valley workforce. By comparison, tech employment comprised 5.7% of the overall U.S. workforce in 2021, the report said, noting that there is a degree of undercounting in tech sector employment because of the blurring of lines across industries.
The report used data from EMSI Burning Glass, the U.S. Bureau of Labor Statistics, the U.S. Bureau of Economic Analysis and other sources, considering categorized under tech industry and tech occupation categories and subtracting the overlap between them.
More tech jobs coming
CompTIA projected that the Valley would add 4,175 jobs in tech fields this year, which would be a 2.6% increase and the ninth-highest growth figure in the country. The Phoenix metro also ranked No. 14 for establishments of new tech businesses.
In fact, Arizona ranked No. 2 for its projected percentage of growth in tech occupations over the next decade, with an estimated increase of 25%. Only Utah came in higher, at 26%.
The leading tech occupations in Phoenix, by far, were those in software, programming, web and quality assurance, with 32,395 employed in those fields in 2021. Behind that were IT support and repair technicians (16,473); cybersecurity and systems engineers (13,625); network engineers, architects and support (12,589).
The Valley’s estimated median tech wage of $87,783 was 113% higher than the median metro wage, according to the report.
Nationwide, the report showed that employment increased by approximately 80,000 workers in 2021, a positive gain over the flat performance in 2020. Nearly 8.7 million people work in core tech-related occupations in the United States, and tech industry accounts for 9.3% of direct value in the U.S. economy — more than $1.8 trillion.
CompTIA estimates a 2% increase — nearly 178,000 new jobs — in 2022, with 48 states projected to add tech workers. Data scientists and analysts (4.3%), cybersecurity professionals (4%), software developers (3.9%), and computer and information research scientists (3.5%) lead the list of occupations expected to see strong growth in 2022.
"The data speaks to the ever-evolving tech workforce and its far-reaching impact across the national, state and metro area economies," Tim Herbert, chief research officer at CompTIA, said in the announcement. "As always, the results are impressive but also a reminder of the collective effort of workers, employers, educators and industry and government organizations to build and sustain a healthy, dynamic tech workforce."
Here are the top 10 metros ranked by net tech employment job gains in 2021:
1. Dallas +5,321
2. Seattle +2,651
3. Denver +2,502
4. Miami +2,072
5. Austin +1,846
6. Salt Lake City +1,597
7. Charlotte +1,147
8. San Diego +1,045
9. Washington DC +1,035
10. Phoenix +1,008
