At Park Community Church, we believe that Chicago (and Illinois) is the most important place to live and minister. It is a place that attracts people for job opportunities, access to culture and the arts, educational opportunities, and quality of life. However, the continued success of Chicago as a global city that influences the world is somewhat dependent on the future job environment and the ability to retain college graduates as the next generation arrives to continuing renewing and regenerating Chicago.
So I was glad to see that Illinois ranked 7th in the nation in a recent report on high tech employment. The Chicago Tribune reports that the Cyberstates 2007 survey, which focuses on employment activity in both 2005 and 2006, ranks Illinois seventh nationally in terms of the number of high-tech jobs. In Illinois, more than 200,000 people had some kind of tech-related work, an increase of 1,200 jobs in 2005. (National employment data was available for 2006 but state-specific information from the Bureau of Labor of Statistics lags by nine months, the survey notes.)
“Chicago is a fabulous place to live and attract talent,” Kelly Smith, vice president of corporate marketing for Navteq, the digital mapmaker. said, noting that the city’s central location helps employees travel to the coasts, Europe and Asia efficiently. “It’s manageable for our people to do their jobs well and still have a life.” Another reason for the job growth is the increasing amount of venture capital investment in Illinois. Venture investing grew to $392 million in 2006 from $295 million in 2005, the survey found. Illinois ranks 11th nationally in terms of venture investment. A lot of the growth is coming from small and emerging companies. Overall, Illinois ranks fifth nationally in the number of high-tech establishments.
The state’s 205,702 tech workers are employed by 15,380 firms that contribute $15.4 billion in payroll. By comparison, California is the nation’s hot spot for high-tech workers, employing more than 900,000 workers who average $95,300 in salary. There, more than 41,000 employers contribute $87 billion to payroll. The states ahead of Illinois in the 2007 survey are Texas, New York, Florida, Virginia and Massachusetts.
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