Job growth in Arizona’s tech sector led the Southwest during the fourth quarter of 2023 with an increase of 5.57% year-over-year even as job postings were at their lowest levels in recent years, according to the Arizona Technology Council.
The figures come from the Q4 Arizona Technology Industry Impact Report, which the ATC releases on a quarterly basis using analysis from Lightcast of data from the U.S. Bureau of Labor Statistics.
Along with the job bump came a 9.8% jump in earnings over 2023, with $30.65 billion in earnings reported across the sector in Arizona. The highest median salaries were reported for architectural and engineering managers ($158,303), computer and information systems managers $149,594), computer network architects ($119,894) and software developers ($109,415).
Software developers by far led the occupation concentration list, with 42,951 jobs in 2023. Coming in next were computer user support specialists (24,699), computer systems analysts (15,808) and computer and information systems managers (13,463).
The report found that the tech industry in Arizona now accounts for 234,971 jobs, giving it a growth rate that surpassed that of Nevada (5%) and Utah (4.8%), both of which had higher growth rates than Arizona in the ATC’s Q3 2023 report for the Southwest region, which also includes Texas (4.3%) and California (2.8%).
“The technology industry certainly had a bit of a downturn in 2023, but Arizona remains a standout among our peers as having a technology ecosystem where opportunities remain high” said Steven Zylstra, president and CEO of the Council and SciTech Institute, in a statement. “We’re also encouraged by the start of 2024, with significant investments from Intel and TSMC driving new business our way and a vibrant startup ecosystem accelerating innovation across sectors.”
Arizona tech job postings decline
Despite the gains, job postings in science, technology and math fields in the fourth quarter were at their lowest levels of the past five years. In October there were 168,749 postings, which rose to 184,110 in November before dipping back down to 167,462 in December. That’s down from a high of 404,504 job postings in March 2022.
When it comes to job postings, the ATC’s report goes through Q1 of 2024 and shows that by March job postings had crept back up to nearly 200,000, with some of the top companies hiring being Fry’s Food Stores owner Kroger Co. (up 297 positions, or 28.7%) and Andronico’s Community Markets (165, 32%).
On the opposite end of the spectrum, Walmart’s tech job listings had declined by 56.8%, or 341 positions, and CVS Health’s tech job listings were down 27.5%, or 175 positions.
The report also looks at developments in gender and racial diversity in the tech sector. In 2023, the number of women in the state’s tech workforce had dropped 0.4% since 2022, with 69.8% of the workforce being male and 30.2% being female in 2023.
The careers with the greatest percentages of female workers were desktop publishers (76%), natural sciences managers (49%), database administrators (37%) and web developers (34%).
Broken down by race, 60.7% of Arizona tech workers were white in 2023, with 17.3% being Hispanic, 13.2% Asian, 4.9% Black and the rest reported as two or more races or other.
