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City sees surge in tech jobs: Reports

The number of tech jobs in the city continues to grow, according to two reports released Tuesday detailing the Big Apple’s digital landscape.

The Partnership for New York said there were more than 25,000 new tech jobs created between 2006 and 2012, a 21% jump that was higher than the national average of 12% during the same period. Another study commissioned by several groups, including Google, found New York City added 45,000 tech jobs between 2003 and 2013, an 18% increase. By comparison overall employment increased by 12% in the city and 4% nationally.

Researchers said the trend will only accelerate as an increasing number of industries look to become more technologically adept.

“… Companies will have to adapt to bring that talent into workforce,” said Merrill Pond, the senior vice president of research for the Partnership for New York, a nonprofit commerce based group.

The Partnership’s study noted that there are as many tech jobs in the city as securities jobs on Wall Street.

The second report — commissioned by the nonprofit Association for a Better New York, Citi, Google and NY Tech Meetup — said the city’s tech jobs annually create $50.6 billion in compensation, $124.7 billion in spending and $5.6 billion in tax revenue.

Jessica Aptman, director of communications at ZocDoc, a New York-based online medical care scheduling service, said she has seen huge growth recently.

The company has grown to 500 employees from 150 in 2012.

“For us there is such great talent here. It’s tremendous. The number people we are able to get and recruit is incredible,” she said.

Pond said the those employees are going into two areas: tech startups and the city’s established companies that are becoming more tech savvy.

The number of tech entrepreneurs who set up shop in the five boroughs has grown over the last eight years, according to the city. Many of those companies have become worldwide icons.

Althea Erickson, public policy director at Etsy, which was founded and headquartered in DUMBO and has 350 employees, said the company’s creators have enjoyed growing in New York because its vibe has helped attract smart, creative employees who want to be a part of the Big Apple.

“It’s a great city to live in. A lot of people don’t want to set up in one industry towns,” she said.

Pond said that industrial diversity also helped expand tech jobs since companies as big as Wall Street firms to as small as retail shops have been adding more openings for tech positions. The city’s health care industry saw the largest jump in tech jobs with 3,000 over the six-year stretch, a 90% increase.

Aside from the 19 startups that were health care based, several hospitals and life science centers upgraded facilities, digitized files and incorporated tech skills into operations.

Bryan Spielman, executive vice president of Medidata, a 15-year-old Manhattan firm that specializes in data and cloud-based clinical trials for pharmaceutical companies, said the health care industry is finally catching up to other industries in tech investment.

 “Banking and financial services spend 7% of revenue in technology. [Health care] used to spend 3%, but now you are seeing that increase,” he said.

Deputy Mayor Alicia Glen said the city will to continue to foster the startups as part of its mission to create new opportunities for all New Yorkers..

“It’s our job to develop the workforce these fast-growing companies need, so people from our schools and our neighborhoods have a real shot at these well-paying jobs,” she said in a statement.

Frank Rimalovski, executive director of the NYU Entrepreneurial Institute, said more investment in tech schools and interest in entrepreneurs to take a chance in the city means there will be more opportunities for tech jobs.

“I’m no Nostradamus but I don’t think this is a fad,” he said. “It’s crazy the amount of activity that we’re seeing here.”