NH Unemployment and Median Income Numbers – What do they mean?
New Hampshire appears to have many things going for it at the moment with regard to work. The unemployment rate remains low and according to the US Census bureau it boasts the highest median income in the country.
While these are both great things to hear – what do they mean to folks looking for technology jobs in NH – or for those looking to fill technology jobs in NH?
For companies looking to fill roles it means competition is approaching extreme. The pool of available employees is very small – a fraction of the 2.7% unemployed are IT professionals. Of those people another – much smaller – fraction may have the required skills for a position. To make a successful hire they must entice a fully employed candidate to leave their current role which requires significant effort. Gone are the days where an ad on LinkedIN or Indeed draw enough traffic to fill a position over time.
Candidates on the other hand have a slight upper hand. With the number of calls and emails from recruiters likely on the rise this can be a good time to make a move into a new technology or market. Unlike five years ago – companies may be willing to trade certain required skills or experience for the rest of a candidate’s skillset. New Hampshire has also become much more fertile ground for start ups and investment money which provide a wide variety of options for technology professionals. If you haven’t looked around while you were surviving the economy of the past several years this is a really good time to assess the hiring landscape.
It can also be a good time to transition into consulting – particularly project based or short term consulting. We have seen a growing number of candidates plot a path to retirement that leverages this approach. It allows them some flexibility in terms of schedule so that they can start their own businesses, turn hobbies into second careers, go back to school and do all of those things we read about in lifestyle blogs!
Experts say the concern is that job growth will be slowed due to lack of available workforce. With the high median income and quality of life that NH offers you would think candidates would be moving into the state but that has not been the case to date. With upcoming competition in Boston coming from GE and Amazon it will be very interesting to monitor technology job growth in NH over the coming years. One thing is for sure – NH has a great foundation to build from as we do!
Eric joined TSP as the Managing Partner of the project management practice. Eric has over 15 years of hands-on project management experience with clients ranging from the SMB space to the Fortune 100. He has successfully managed projects and programs ranging from small server build outs to multi-million dollar implementations. Eric’s goal in creating the project management practice is to leverage his understanding of project management into a high quality relationship for both the client and the project manager.
