Study: Missouri tops Kansas in tech job growth
August 27, 2015 | Ashley Jost
Part of the Kansas City metro area was represented on a recent report of states showing the most growth for tech-related jobs.
Missouri hung on to the bottom end of Dice.com’s 17-state list at No. 15, showing 1.17 percent job growth in the tech industry during the last six months.
KCnext President Ryan Weber chalks it up to the pipeline of talent, to some extent. Weber’s organization works to grow the tech industry in the Kansas City metro.
“I would attribute that to the ability of the state’s education system to produce the talent that it does,” Weber said about Missouri, pointing to the University of Missouri and the Missouri University of Science and Technology in particular, which yield the bulk of the state’s graduates in tech-related fields. “In general, they’re producing more talent than the state of Kansas, which might explain why Missouri [made the list].”
Weber added that the Kansas City metro area currently has more than 2,000 open tech positions. Universities must help fill that need if the metro area is to realize its potential as a top tech hub, Weber previously said.
Dice.com used aggregated data from the U.S. Bureau of Labor Statistics on hiring in computer systems design and related tech services to compile the list. Dice is a 24-year old website that focuses on technology job postings. The company has published a similar tech growth list using federal statistics for the last four years.
Minnesota topped this list with 8.36 percent growth, which the blog attributes to steady quarter-over-quarter growth during the last year.
Here’s the list in full, along with percentage increases in states’ tech populations:
- Minnesota (8.36 percent)
- Utah (5.75 percent)
- Nebraska (5.22 percent)
- Michigan (4.47 percent)
- Florida (4.27 percent)
- Massachusetts (3.75 percent)
- New York (3.58 percent)
- Maryland (3.45 percent)
- Oregon (3.42 percent)
- California (3.04 percent)
- Virginia (2.31 percent)
- Illinois (2.14 percent)
- Texas (1.97 percent)
- Ohio (1.39 percent)
- Missouri (1.17 percent)
- Georgia (0.96 percent)
- New Jersey (0.43 percent)
2015 Startups to Watch
stats here
Related Posts on Startland News
Chocolate maker (and coffee roaster) earns bean-to-bar accolades from his Grandview base
Kansas City has plenty of confectioners, but it’s rare to find true bean-to-bar work, Mike King said. That distinction makes Encore Coffee and Chocolate’s process both resourceful and extraordinary. “There’s only a few of us that are making our own chocolate,” said King, founder of Grandview-built Encore Coffee and Chocolate. “I consider myself a chocolate…
E-Scholars rebrands, extending Regnier legacy deeper into influential UMKC accelerator
E-Scholars — the University of Missouri-Kansas City’s flagship accelerator program — isn’t going anywhere, Alex Matlack shared, but it is getting a rebrand. After listening to feedback from alumni, mentors, and community members, the program formally known as Entrepreneurship Scholars is now the Regnier Venture Accelerator, joining the likes of the Regnier Venture Creation Challenge…
Plaza-based beauty influencer draws upon her own experience to launch signature brow line
Bella Jimenez built a real-life following in the local beauty industry, perfecting brows across Kansas City for eight years (four on the Country Club Plaza). But with that influence, she realized, came a responsibility to be authentic and honest about brands — ultimately creating her own line of brow products. “I wanted a professional line from…
KC Bier Co’s immersive biergarten set to open in Lenexa before thirsty World Cup visitors arrive
A popular Kansas City brewery officially broke ground Friday on a highly anticipated, border-hopping expansion that will bring one of the nation’s largest authentic Bavarian-style biergartens to Johnson County. “This project has been a long time coming,” said Camille Christie, Vice President of Development and Leasing at West Star Development, which is adding KC Bier…