Local Tech Growth Set to Outpace National Tech Job Growth Over the Next Five Years
NASHVILLE, Tenn., May 4, 2023 – The market for tech jobs is hot in Nashville. According to the 2023 State of Middle Tennessee Tech report released today by the Greater Nashville Technology Council and Middle Tennessee State University (MTSU), the number of tech jobs in Middle Tennessee grew by 17% from 2017-2022.
Drilling down into the stats of this year’s report, in 2022, businesses in our region posted almost 38K new tech jobs a month on average — 7,000 jobs more than the national average of an area of our size. Tech jobs in Middle Tennessee pay 84.7% above the median compensation across all occupations in the region. Bachelor’s degree was the most cited education level per job post and a majority of tech jobs listed 2-3 minimum years of experience. “SQL” was the top software skill cited, “computer science” the top specialized skill, and “communications” the most in demand common skill for Middle Tennessee tech jobs.
“While Middle Tennessee’s job market is growing, the tech industry’s growth continues to outpace it,” said Elise Cambournac, President & CEO of the Greater Nashville Technology Council. “With the projected job growth of the industry over the next half-decade set to continue as new tech companies move to town and existing businesses expand their tech capacities, we must work as a united community to develop more local tech talent to fill those open roles.”
One of the opportunities to add new techies in the workforce is to train more people in underserved communities. The report shows that in 2022, while non-white (Asian, Black and Hispanic/Latino) workers make up 26.7% of the working population in Middle Tennessee, those groups only represent 23.0% of the tech workforce — which is progress — up from 21% from our last report. And while women make up 49% of our region’s workforce, they only represent 37.5% of the tech workforce. These stats emphasize the need for the expansion of educational and developmental programs to make pathways into tech more accessible.
“Middle Tennessee’s tech sector has proven itself to be an inclusive place, especially for women, and the 2023 report shows we continue to make progress” said Dr. Amy Harris, associate professor of information systems and analytics in the Jennings A. Jones College of Business at MTSU. “The report explains some of the key factors of tech industry growth in the Greater Nashville area: above-average wages, thousands of open positions, and a relatively low cost of living. I’m confident Nashville’s tech industry will continue to do the hard work to make these great job opportunities availble to all.”
Any questions regarding the report can be submitted to the report’s author Amy Harris, Ph.D. (amy.harris@mtsu.edu).