My View: Comprehensive national report shows key trends for Arizona’s tech industry

AZ Inno

At times it takes someone taking a look from the outside to see how you’re doing.

A case in point for Arizona’s technology community is the State of the Tech Workforce report published annually by the Computing Technology Industry Association (CompTIA), a leading voice and advocate for the $5 trillion global information technology industry.

With the 2023 edition chock-full of data covering 146 pages, the findings are definitely enough to fill this column for months to come. The report has rankings on the 50 states plus the District of Columbia and 51 metropolitan markets. CompTIA’s analyses were based on sources including Lightcast, U.S. Bureau of Labor Statistics and U.S. Bureau of Economic Analysis.

Scanning the pages, my attention focused on the numbers for Arizona and the Phoenix-Mesa-Chandler metropolitan area. I spotted some trends about our state and the Valley of the Sun that are worth sharing.

For example, our metro area and state each ranked in the second diversity index quartile in their respective four quartiles of core tech occupations. In the metro area, that translated into tech occupations filled by 15% Hispanic/Latino, 5% Black/African American and 26% women. For all occupations, the percentages were 29% Hispanic/Latino, 6% Black/African American and 48% women.

For all of Arizona, tech occupations were filled by 15% Hispanic/Latino, 4% Black/African American and 26% women. For all occupations, the percentages were 30% Hispanic/Latino, 6% Black/African American and 48% women.

As you can see, we still have room for improvement to achieve parity here — and in the rest of the nation. According to the report, Hispanic or Latino workers represent 17% of the U.S. workforce and 8% of tech occupations. This gap signals underrepresentation in the tech workforce.

Arizona scores well in Hispanic representation

Still, examples of states in the report with high levels of tech workforce representation numerically and in relation to the overall workforce composition include Arizona, New Mexico, Florida and Texas. In fact, Arizona ranked No. 4 in Hispanic or Latino representation.

So, what are considered the leading tech occupations that include these groups and others? In both the metro area and Arizona in 2022, they were:

It’s worth noting that in these same occupations, the number of positions throughout the state are expected to increase in 2023 by percentages ranging from 2.2% to 5.1%.

While these figures are pretty significant, so are those regarding wages. The estimated median annual tech wage in the metro area was $90,197 — 112% higher than the median state wage. For the state, the amount was $88,355. (CompTIA noted that these amounts are from 2021, the most recent available for this report, so these figures are likely higher now.)

When these dollars are pumped into the economy, the totals are mind-boggling. The estimated direct economic impact of the tech sector in the Phoenix-Mesa-Chandler area is estimated to be $29.4 billion — 9.3% of the area’s overall economic impact. This total was part of the $33.4 billion estimated direct economic impact of the tech sector for Arizona — 8.2% of the state’s overall economic impact.

This all is just scratching the surface of what is in the report. To do your own review of the State of the Tech Workforce, I encourage you to visit www.cyberstates.org, which features an interactive map of the entire nation.

While you should be impressed with the progress of the technology community, know that the best is yet to come.

Steven Zylstra is president and CEO of the Arizona Technology Council.

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