Looking for a job? Make sure you dust off your credentials because tech sector employment gained by 3% in 2016 according to an annual analysis conducted by CompTIA. This report, titled Cyberstates 2017™, provides a state-by-state breakdown of tech sector employment growth. Total employment in the tech sector now totals 6.9 million workers working directly for organizations in the technology niche and an additional 7.3 million workers employed in technological capacities in other industries.

The tech sector accounts for 8% of the U.S. economy at $1.3 trillion in activity. Todd Thibodeaux, president and CEO of CompTIA, said of the analysis results:

“These numbers affirm the strength and vitality of the U.S. tech industry, and attest to its essential standing in the economy. Technology enables innovation and generates growth for companies, regardless of their size, locale or markets served.”

The study identified ten states with largest number of tech sector jobs added, with number of jobs added in parenthesis after each state: California (48,500), Texas (11,000), New York (11,200), Florida (9,600), Massachusetts (9,400), Virginia (4,100), Illinois (3,000), Pennsylvania (5,000), Washington (10,600), and Michigan (10,700). On a percentage change basis, the five states that showed significant were Utah (+6 percent), North Carolina (+5.9 percent), Michigan (+5.1 percent), Washington (+4.9 percent), and Montana (+4.5 percent). Part of this strong growth may be spurred by the number of recently founded startups, which saw a strong growth of 12% in 2015 over the previous year.

“Tech sector employment outpaces other notable segments of the economy, including construction, finance and insurance, transportation and warehousing, and arts, entertainment and recreation,” said Tim Herbert, senior vice president of research and market intelligence for CompTIA. Especially notable is the gain in IT services and custom software services, which accounted for about 60% of the job growth and 5,000 new companies in the tech sector in 2016. “Digital transformation continues to be a driving force. … Organizations of all sizes are embracing cloud-based technology solutions, expanding their mobile presence, fortifying cyber defenses and driving decision-making through advanced data analysis.”

Of course, there will usually be some snooty person asking for a source if one goes by some arguments about economics and jobs reports on social media. CompTIA gets its information from the U.S. Bureau of Labor Statistics, the U.S. Bureau of Economic Analysis, and the EMSI. The full report can be seen on Cyberstates.org. Of course this analysis should be regarded as preliminary this early in the year, but it’s a good sign for anyone who wants to work for an innovative tech startup or maybe found one of their own. It says that there’s demand for techies who are willing to blow the dust off their certifications or go for new ones.

Seriously. Get your certification.

CompTIA on eBay

[ebayfeedsforwordpress feed=”http://rest.ebay.com/epn/v1/find/item.rss?keyword=comptia&sortOrder=BestMatch&programid=1&campaignid=5337337555&toolid=10039&listingType1=All&lgeo=1&feedType=rss” items=”15″]