[youtube http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=ef6zBE1xK4o&w=560&h=315]

DICE NEWS UPDATE: Tech employment rises for the 20th straight month, bringing the total number of jobs to more than 4 million… Michigan especially is growing its tech sector… and bad news for RIM… all on this week's Update. The number of IT jobs rose in September. The latest figures from TechServe Alliance show that IT employment continued grew for the 20th straight month. The actual number of jobs rose by about 5,800, to a bit more than 4 million. That’s a small gain, but it means overall IT employment is up close to 100,000 jobs, or nearly 2.5 percent, year-over-year.  The alliance says that unless the economy deteriorates again, it remains bullish on continued tech-job growth for the foreseeable future. One thing that’s probably helping: Companies are starting to bring outsourced jobs back inside. When Best Buy said it will create 200 back-office IT jobs, it was just the latest example of a trend that’s starting to spread. More companies are building their own tech teams rather than outsourcing the work. It means companies are acknowledging that IT is essential to their future. To control that future, they want to find and keep their own IT talent. Michigan is adding tech jobs. A report from TechAmerica Midwest says the state added 2,700 technology jobs between 2009 and 2010, an increase of 2 percent. Proportionally speaking, that means Michigan has added more tech jobs than any other state. Job gains in sectors like software and research and development have helped the state’s recovery, TechAmerica says. In terms of growth, Michigan was followed by Washington, D.C., West Virginia, Utah and South Carolina. But, no surprise, California still has the most tech positions overall. Here’s news to chill the blood of RIM executives. A broad study of end users and decision makers has found that up to 60 percent of BlackBerry users at small businesses will switch to some other kind of smartphone over the next year. So will 30 percent of users at larger companies. The report -- Enterprise Management Associates -- found that 52 percent of BlackBerry users at companies with over 10,000 employees use the devices for work. But only 36 percent plan to stick with them for the next year. At businesses with under 500 employees, 16 percent use BlackBerry now, but only 7 percent plan to next year. So it’s no surprise that only 16 percent of respondents are “completely satisfied” with their device, compared to 44 percent for iPhone users and 34 percent for Android customers. Over the next year, half of small business users plan to use the Android platform, while 29 percent say they’ll use an iPhone.