People are just fed up and leaving the state, so the job opening
increase is more likely a vacuum that's not being filled fast enough.
Plenty has been said and written about Detroit’s death spiral — in these pages, we even talked about a proposal to plow under a portion of the city to rejuvenate it as farmland. 
But the latest job-opening stats from Dice.com tell an interesting story about another rejuvenation taking place across southeast Michigan — a surge in technology job openings. Dice.com, which is currently tracking about 75,000 available tech and IT jobs nationwide, said as of this month, Detroit is leading all other areas in growth in demand for technology professionals from a year ago.
Just the other day, SmartPlanet’s Andrew Nusca provided perspective on Chrysler’s SuperBowl ad promoting its Detroit roots, and the city’s resurgence. SmartPlanet colleague Tyler Falk also makes the case, however, that cities such as Detroit need more community oriented livability to thrive once again.
As Dice senior VP Tom Silver puts it in his report:
“Detroit tops the list with more than 800 available tech positions on any given day – that’s double the number posted last year. Let’s extend those two minutes of Detroit super bowl advertising goodness, by highlighting that technology professionals make on average $71,445 per year in the Motor City, up two percent from a year ago.”
In fact, Midwestern cities lead the list of this month’s tech job growth areas — a reflection of a resurgent economy that is lifting the region’s traditional manufacturing base. Of course, it can be argued that Detroit and many other cities in the region were in bad shape economically a year ago, so any growth at all is going to be significant. But the Detroit area also has its share of determined visionaries who seek to create a sustainable entrepreneurial climate, with new types of businesses to replace its auto industry base.
The fastest-growing metro areas for technology job openings include the following, in terms of year-over-year growth since February 2010:
- Detroit 101%
- Cincinnati 75%
- Cleveland 62%
- Columbus 57%
- Seattle 54%
- Pittsburgh 45%
- Miami 43%
- Jacksonville 41%
- Chicago 40%
- Silicon Valley 40%
In total volume, the top areas for job openings are the Washington, DC area with 8,500 tech jobs available, followed by New York/New Jersey (8,400) and finally, Silicon Valley (4,750).
