High technology flourishes in Los Angeles and San Diego

From "Telecom Valley" north of San Diego, through Orange County and the Los Angeles basin, up the coast to Ventura and Santa Barbara counties, Southern California is enjoying a sharp surge in high-technology job opportunities. The region is shifting from a reliance on aerospace and defense manufacturing to an economy that is not overly dependent on any single industry for continued growth.

"The job market is booming," says Vicki Johnson, director of operations at Los Angeles-based recruiter On the Edge. Johnson says the people most in demand are relational database administrators and Windows programmers.

Helen MacKinnon, president of Technical Connections, in Los Angeles, says the Burbank area and the city's West Side are getting a boost from a healthy entertainment industry.

Meanwhile, San Diego is enjoying its own high-tech boom, especially in the area of wireless telecommunications. There is one caveat about the San Diego job market, however.

"Many of the big companies with a strong presence in the San Diego area, such as Hewlett-Packard, have worldwide organizations, so you don't have corporate IT positions at the highest level here," says Chris Lussier, president of Poway, Calif.-based HireTech.

Southern California Los Angeles area San Diego area

Population 15,362,165 2,644,132

Unemployment rate 6.2% 4.3%

Median house price $175,000 $190,500

Average salaries (large companies):

Vice president of IS $170,145 $169,451

Systems manager $90,249 $89,881

Top private sector employers: Boeing Science Applications
Lockheed Martin International
Hughes Electronics Qualcomm
Scripps Health

SOURCES: U.S. CENSUS BUREAU, BUREAU OF LABOR STATISTICS, NATIONAL ASSOCIATION OF REALTORS, POSITIVE SUPPORT REVIEW SALARY SURVEY, LOS ANGELES BUSINESS JOURNAL, SAN DIEGO BUSINESS JOURNAL