Arizona Technology Council finds industry is on the rise
Jun 18, 2018, 4:13 AM | Updated: Jun 21, 2018, 1:56 pm
(Pexels photo)
(Pexels photo)
PHOENIX — Arizona is rising in the tech industry, the Arizona Technology Council found.
The state ranks second in employment growth and third in average industry pay in the Southwest.
More than 8,000 tech companies have provided more than 168,000 jobs in the state.
ATC president and CEO Steven Zylstra wants Arizona to become the fastest-growing state in the industry.
“We’ve been wanting to do a report like this for some time,” he said. “One of our goals as an organization is for Arizona to become the fastest-growing tech hub in the nation, and we’re beginning to fulfill that vision.”
The tech industry isn’t just on the rise – it’s dominating other industries in the state.
The study found that there’s nearly a 1-to-1 ratio between jobs inside and outside the sector: for every one job in the information and computer technology area, there’s 1.04 jobs outside.
Its 1.38 percent growth is better than that in California.
On average, employees make $77,000 per year.
Zylstra plans to complete this report quarterly.
He said companies would typically provide this type of study annually, but by doing it more frequently, the group can better provide metrics to judge Arizona’s tech growth.
“I believe this report confirms that we have a great, growing technology sector in Arizona that is creating lots of jobs and continues to accelerate and it is becoming competitive with all the other states,” Zylstra said.
