Company targets mid-sized cities for low-cost, high-tech jobs

OKLAHOMA CITY (AP) _ Oklahoma is benefitting from an initiative aimed at retaining software jobs in the United States. <br/><br/>Today CIBER will open a programming center in Oklahoma City, which is the

Thursday, January 13th 2005, 6:04 am

By: News On 6

OKLAHOMA CITY (AP) _ Oklahoma is benefitting from an initiative aimed at retaining software jobs in the United States.

Today CIBER will open a programming center in Oklahoma City, which is the first of five centers being unveiled in smaller markets across the country this year. centers the company will open in smaller markets across the country within the next year.

The locations haven't been decided yet, but will employ about 200 people.

Company president Mac Slingerlend says combined, the centers, called CIBERsites, will create one-thousand U-S jobs.

Industry analysts expect nearly 830-thousand U-S service oriented jobs are forecast to move overseas by the end of the year.

Slingerlend says he expects to pay workers in Oklahoma City between 35-thousand and 40-thousand dollars including benefits, lower than the national average of 61-thousand dollars for college-educated computer programmers in the United States.

He says the salaries here are less than the national average, but are more than what their overseas counterparts receive.