Cybercities ranks Miami-Fort Lauderdale's high-tech sector

South Florida has seen an increase of engineering services jobs, according to the Cybercities 2008 report released Tuesday by the American Electronics Association. Telecommunications services is reported to be the leading tech sector in the area with 17,400 jobs in 2006, raking it 10th nationwide. Second highest is engineering services with 15,300 jobs, which is an increase of 900 from the year before.

South Florida's high-tech industry employed 72,900 people in 2006, according to the report, which includes Broward, Miami-Dade and Palm Beach counties. The average tech worker in the area earned $66,600 in 2006, which is 61 percent more than the average private sector wage of $41,300 for South Florida. The area is ranked ninth in number of high-tech establishments, with 6,600 in 2006.

Other highlights about South Florida from the report:

• 2,700 jobs lost between 2005 and 2006
• ranks 10th in telecommunications services employment with 17,400 jobs
• ranks 13th in engineering services employment with 15,300 jobs
• ranks 20th in computer systems design and related services employment with 15,100 jobs

The top five cybercities by high-tech employment in 2006 were the New York metro area, Washington, D.C., San Jose/Silicon Valley, Boston and Dallas-Fort Worth. Seattle saw the largest tech industry employment growth, adding 7,800 jobs in 2006.

Cities face crisis in search for tech workers

A crisis in the technology workforce is brewing. A growing number of baby boomers are leaving, and not enough young people are enrolling in science and technology education. Add to that the number of people who are lacking computer skills, and cities have a challenge with being economically competitive.

"Some may not view it as a crisis yet," said Maria Wynne, a Microsoft senior director of economic development in the U.S. public sector. "In the U.S., up to 70 percent of the jobs in the next 5 to 7 years ... will require computer and communications skills. We do not have a pipeline of skilled people to fill these jobs."

Mayors and government technology employees gathered in a casual setting today at the annual U.S. Conference of Mayors meeting in Miami. They shared ideas on best practices of improving digital literacy in cities, and Miami Mayor Manny Diaz presided over the forum.

Diaz advised other mayors to look to the private sector for funding, since city resources can be limited.

"Don't go crazy trying to Wi-Fi the entire city," Diaz added, warning that when a project is too ambitious, there will be problems with paying the bills.

Seattle Mayor Greg Nickels stressed that cities cannot just depend on luck that its residents will keep up with the changes in computers in the future. Even with Microsoft Corp. and  Amazon.com in its backyard, 20 percent of Seattle does not have a computer in the home, Nickels said.

If a city is going to have a competitive economy, "you've got to have the people with these skills, regardless of what your base industries are," Nickels said. "Even if your main industry seems to be one that's a smoke-stack industry - it doesn't matter."

After the forum I spoke with, James E. Osteen Jr., assistant director of Miami's information technology department. He said if education isn't improved, South Florida will lose more jobs to other tech hubs and jobs will be outsourced overseas.

"If we want to bring more industries in here, we have to have an edge,''  Osteen said. That includes having a stronger pool of computer competent workers and intelligent consumers.

The city's Elevate Miami program is working to do just that through partnerships with the education system and having public computer and Internet access at parks and senior centers. There are also programs to educate small business owners on things such as how to create websites, use accounting software and locate funding sources.

"I think the most important investment in people is education," Diaz told the crowd. "And digital literacy is giving them the tools. Not everyone is going to take advantage of it. But at least your giving them the tools, the fighting chance, to compete."

Telecommuting can be a deal-making perk for tech employees

Gas is more than $4 a gallon in many parts of South Florida, so it's not surprising that employees are wanting to telecommute more than ever before.

ProTech, an information technology search and staffing firm, surveyed 544 IT professionals in Broward, Miami-Dade and Palm Beach counties regarding work incentives. The option for flex-time and telecommuting tied total compensation as deciding factors in accepting a job offer from a prospective employer.

Twenty-three percent of technology workers -- the largest piece of the pie -- said flex-time and telecommuting were the best perks offered to them by a past or present employer, edging out bonus and paid expenses (each at 18 percent). Work/life balance came in second after salary as the most important consideration when weighing a job offer. That was followed by stability and career growth.

Other findings from the ProTech survey of South Florida technology workers:

• IT workers reported an average salary increase of 12 percent over the previous year
• 38 percent said the downturn in the housing market and mortgage crisis had affected them
• 49 percent said they had seriously considered leaving Florida in the last year (which is down 3 percent from last year). They cited cost-of-living (39 percent) and lack of job opportunities (35 percent) as the major reasons for wanting to leave the state.
• 83 percent said they would leave their current company for a better opportunity -- a decrease of 4 percent from last year

Opinion Polls & Market Research

Happy Webmaster's Day!

Happy Made-Up-By-GoDaddy.com Webmaster's Day! The domain name registration, hosting and web site design company has declared April 29th to be Webmaster's Day, to honor those people that make the World Wide Web a better place.

You can send free e-cards to the webmasters in your life at GoDaddy.com/WebmastersDay.

Aside from the fact that is is a marketing stunt by GoDaddy.com, I support having a day to appreciate the hard work of webmasters and webmistresses. And if you don't want to send an e-card, take a few minutes to send a random thanks for their work. I'm sure they'll remember your appreciation the next time you call them at 2 a.m. to fix something on the site.

Miami / Ft. Lauderdale is the state's top cybercity

Check out my story today on where Florida ranks in the tech industry. As a state we're No. 4, but a report from the AeA has us as the second-fastest growing cyberstate, when they take into account high-tech employment, wages, payroll and establishments.

The South Florida area (Miami-Dade, Broward and Palm Beach counties) ranks top in the state according to the report, even though this area only added about 50 jobs between 2004 and 2005. But we have about 75,300 tech industry workers here (as of 2005 data). Orlando is another huge tech hub, and it added the most tech jobs in the state with 2,500 new jobs.

There's much debate about how true these rankings are on the story's comments, and there are some interesting points being made. But keep in mind all the data is based off numbers from 2005, which is the most recent data provided by the Bureau of Labor Statistics. I imagine things can be feeling different now in the industry compared to the statistics from two years ago.

Top 10 Florida Cybercities by Employment

Rank	State	2004	2005	Change	Change
	Florida	265,500	276,400	+4%	+10,900
1.	Miami/Fort Lauderdale	75,200	75,300	+0%	+50
2.	Tampa/St. Petersburg	53,800	55,900	+4%	+2,100
3.	Orlando	40,200	42,600	+6%	+2,500
4.	Palm Bay/Melbourne	20,000	20,900	+5%	+900
5.	Jacksonville	16,200	18,200	+12%	+2,000
6.	Tallahassee	5,400	5,900	+10%	+500
7.	Sarasota	5,000	5,300	+7%	+400
8.	Fort Walton Beach	3,600	4,600	+26%	+900
9.	Cape Coral/Fort Myers	4,200	4,400	+6%	+200
10.	Deltona/Daytona Beach	3,900	3,300	-15%	-600

Top 10 Florida Cybercities by Wage Differential (2005)

Rank	State	High Tech Wages	Private Sector Wages	Wage Differential
	Florida	$61,100	$36,100	70%
1.	Fort Walton Beach	$61,900	$30,800	101%
2.	Sarasota	$62,600	$33,100	89%
3.	Tallahassee	$55,600	$31,500	76%
4.	Orlando	$63,600	$36,200	76%
5.	Palm Bay/Melbourne	$65,800	$37,800	74%
6.	Tampa/St. Petersburg	$60,800	$35,800	70%
7.	Jacksonville	$61,900	$37,500	65%
8.	Miami/Fort Lauderdale	$61,600	$39,200	57%
9.	Deltona/Daytona Beach	$44,800	$28,800	56%
10.	Cape Coral/Fort Myers	$51,300	$34,700	48%

Source: Florida Cybercities 2007

South Florida is looking to hire more IT staff in 4th quarter

The most recent Robert Half Technology IT Hiring Index and Skills Report reveals that 8 percent of chief information officers in the Miami/Fort Lauderdale area expect to hire information technology professionals in the fourth quarter of this year. That 8 percent is an increase of three points from the forecast of the third quarter. Also, 4 percent expect to lose staff.

The numbers are based on interviews with 200 CIOs from a random sample of South Florida companies that have 100 or more employees. Nationally, about 1,400 executives were questioned.

Click here to read the national results of the study.

"As competition for candidates intensifies in many specialties, organizations are starting to accelerate their hiring processes, increase salaries and offer work-life balance benefits such as telecommuting opportunities and flexible work schedules," Katherine Spencer Lee, executive director of Robert Half Technology, said in a released statement.

Motorola Lab at Wannado City

Wannado City will add a Motorola M-Lab occupation venue to it's role-playing theme park for kids, located at the Sawgrass Mills Mall.

The grand opening will be on June 21 and is designed for children between the ages of 8 to 12 (but 13 and 14-year-olds are also welcome) to simulate working in a high-tech scientific laboratory. The "young inventors" get to wear lab coats while solving problems using technology and teamwork through an interactive video game. The problem solving mission doesn't involve cellphones and communication technology, as you might think, but rather includes a underwater exploration involving deep sea creatures and focuses on innovations in technology.

Even though the children might not be working with Motorola cellphones, the Motorola logo will be displayed throughout the lab. In a Motorola press release, the company said they purposely didn't want the lab to involve cellphones because they do more than just make cellphones, and they didn't want to blatantly market their phones to children.

In connection with Motorola's partnership with Wannado City, there are plans to integrate Motorola communications products throughout the park, such as providing two-way radios for the Wannado City police and fire department park venues. They are also equipping park staff with Motorola two-way radios.