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Sacramento Tech Business Group Closure Creates New Doubts In Job Market

SACRAMENTO (CBS13) — The sudden closure of Sacramento's only tech business group is leading to new doubts about the tech job market in the region.

Rob Elam is one of Sacramento's tech business success stories. Inside his Midtown Sacramento headquarters, the CEO of Propel Fuels has hired 10 people in the past month.

"We're hoping to grow to as many as we need to get the job done but our ambitions are large," he said. "It's a great place for us to be close to the pulse of policy change, as we bring products into the market."

But as the company moves ahead, Sacramento's only tech business group has come to a complete stop.

The Sacramento Regional Technology Alliance, tasked with opening doors for tech entrepreneurs in the region, closed its doors earlier this week. Dwindling membership dollars couldn't cover the costs.

"It was an abrupt ending," said SARTA CEO Howard Bubb. "It's very unfortunate."

Sacramento earned a spot on a national Top 10 list for growing tech jobs in 2012. Now, SARTA's closure is signaling high-tech trouble in a city still dominated by public-sector jobs.

"If you look at our economy, it's a government town," said Sacramento State finance professor Sanjay Varshney. "We have very few large employers in the private sector like an Intel."

He says a few successful small businesses aren't providing enough jobs to make Sacramento a tech hub.

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