Tech Jobs, Tech Stocks: Boom-Boom-Boom-Boom

1. USA Today article "Tech Boom Like It's 1999" -- "Tech workers like Mersy are coveted commodities as the high-tech industry undergoes its biggest hiring binge in more than a decade. Not since the dot-com bubble of the early 2000s has competition been so fierce. Would-be employees are being enticed with fat contracts, hefty bonuses and such freebies as iPads, meals, sporting events and shuttle services. These and other perks are in play to hook top talent in engineering, social media, website development, product design and management.

The jump in tech hires highlights what some economists see as a bounce-back in the $805 billion U.S. tech industry that could eventually make a dent in the national unemployment rate of 8.8%.  A surge in tech hires in California could portend an upturn for the overall U.S. economy, says Jesse Harriott, chief knowledge officer at online job site Monster.com."

2. Apple sells 18.65m iPhones in 2011 --  "Apple has revealed it shipped an enormous 18.65m iPhones in the first three months of 2011, representing a 113 per cent improvement on this time last year. The colossal tally is the highlight of the second fiscal quarter earnings report in which Cupertino boasted of a record net profit of $5.9 billion and income of $24.67 billion between January and the end of March."

MP: The chart above helps to illustrate the tech boom and bull market for technology stocks, showing that the NASDAQ-100 Technology Sector Index has almost doubled in the last two years, compared to a 60% increase in the S&P500 Index.  

HTs: Steve Bartin and Ben Cunningham