Scoring Tech Talent in North America 2019

Key Takeaways

• More than 6 million highly skilled workers across the U.S. and Canada comprise the tech talent that is leading global innovation. Shrinking availability of tech talent in leading markets has spurred a spillover of hiring momentum in smaller and upstart markets in the U.S. and Canada as expanding tech employers seek additional labor pools.
• Overall, big markets have continued to produce the largest volumes of jobs and tech degree graduates over the past five years, but several years of low unemployment rates have dampened the momentum of many leading tech talent markets. Partly as a result, smaller “Next 25” markets have absorbed an increased amount of tech-labor demand.
• The high-tech industry has accounted for about 20% of major office-leasing activity in the U.S. since 2018—the most of any industry. This has left little available office space in many key large markets and pushed up rents to peak levels.