The demand for tech workers in Minnesota outpaced available workers in 2015,  as nearly 5,500 jobs were hired last year, while some 20,000 openings are yet to be filled, according to an industry report released Wednesday.
 
In a state-by-state comparative analysis by the Computing Technology Industry Association, businesses within Minnesota employed 4 percent more tech workers last year than in 2014. In total, 141,900 Minnesotans worked in what was deemed a tech industry job, and 164,500 people worked in tech occupation jobs.
 
The majority of these jobs are congregated within the metro as roughly four out of five tech workers are employed either in Minneapolis, St. Paul or Bloomington.
 
During 2015, the average tech worker was paid $93,500—78 percent higher than the average private sector worker—and the industry accounted for 7.5 percent of the state’s gross product. Altogether, Minnesota’s tech industry workforce is the 17th largest in the nation.
 
“Minnesota’s tech industry continues to show strong growth,” said Margaret Anderson Kelliher, CEO of the Minnesota High Tech Association, in a statement. “We need to continue efforts to ensure our great Minnesota tech companies—from small to large—can find the talent they need to be successful.”
 
Tech industry education establishments, such as The Iron Yard and Prime Digital Academy, have recently targeted the Twin Cities, calling it a “thriving tech hub” in need of a larger active workforce. The code schools, which cost $12,000 per course, last for 12 to 18 weeks and claim to prepare students for entry-level programming positions.

Overall job vacancies in the state were more than 96,000 in the fourth quarter of 2015, according to a figures released Thursday by Minnesota's Department of Employment and Economic Development (DEED). Statewide, the ratio of unemployed people to vacances was 1 to 1.

The tech industry, however, was not listed as the jobs sector with the most vacancies. Instead, the health care and social assistance industy topped DEED's list of vacancies with nearly 20,000 openings left unfilled in three month's time (compared to the tech industry's more than 20,000 job vacancies in all of 2015).