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The Fastest-Growing Tech State Is... Minnesota
Nerval's Lobster writes: What's the fastest-growing state for technology jobs? You might be tempted to say California or New York, or even North Carolina. But according to new data from the U.S. Bureau of Labor Statistics, it's actually Minnesota, which saw the size of its tech workforce jump 8.36 percent over the past six months, to 37,600 workers. Utah and Nebraska came in second and third on the list of fastest-growing states, with six-month tech-employment gains of 5.75 percent and 5.22 percent, respectively. Michigan and Florida came in fourth and fifth. States with smallish tech-worker populations can enjoy heady growth rates by adding relatively few workers. But not all states saw their tech workforce grow in the first half of 2015. Four states—Pennsylvania, Washington, North Carolina, and Alabama—actually saw their workforce decline by 0.61 percent, 0.63 percent, 2.36 percent, and 3.52 percent, respectively, during the period in question. The declines in Washington and North Carolina may come as a surprise to anyone following those states' tech industries, which are quite robust. In Washington's case, layoffs at Microsoft and other firms over the past few months may have contributed to the slight decline.
In NC's case, the decline in Tech. workers is probably due to the draconian policies of the Republican controlled government. They are killing education, even our vaunted state university system, killing off services as fast as they can go, fighting the EPA over water and air quality to allow more pollution, and trying to ram fracking down the throats of an unwilling population that already has insufficient clean water resources.
They say they are making the state "more business friendly" but the numbers tell a different story. What self respecting tech company would want to relocate here? Or grow here? Who would subject their employees to this? And in particular, what self respecting tech workers would want to subject their kids to this dying education system?
North Carolina is in a race for the bottom. Sad but true.
Because it's the only thing they can make fun of.
They can't make fun of our Minnesota Nice attitude (we'd probably just laugh it off anyway).
They can't make fun of our state fair, which is the biggest in terms of attendance per day (second only to Texas in terms of sheer attendance, but they have to run it twice as long just to get there).
They can't make fun of our beautiful scenery, from wooded forests to Lake Superior to grassy plains and a lake every way you look.
They can't make fun of our political successes, our progressive attitudes that care for people, or our economic sensibilities that actually work.
No, the only thing that people outside of Minnesota can make fun of is the weather. And if that's the worst they can do, then bring it on!