Growth of High-Tech Jobs Comes Up Short in Florida

High-tech job growth slowed in Florida from 2005 to 2006 after two years of improvement. The "Cyberstates" report found that although Florida added 5,733 net jobs, it still lags many other states in the concentration of high-tech workers -- a key factor as the state works to expand beyond service-based employment. "We have a lot of work to do if we truly want to diversify our economy," said Maryann Fiala, executive director of the Florida Council for AeA. Companies are exiting the state because they can't get enough high-quality workers, or highly qualified workers." Florida had the third-highest number of technology companies in the nation as of 2006, the latest year for which state-level figures are available, but the state ranked 31st in concentration of technology employees, with high-tech firms employing only 41 of every 1,000 private-sector workers.