Iowa’s employers have yet to see a major shortage of technology talent, but a national push for additional hiring in the sector could lead to more employee turnover in regions outside of high-tech hubs such as New York City and the San Francisco Bay area.

California has the biggest shortage of tech talent and ranked No. 1 on a list of 19 “shortage states” – including Washington D.C. – according to Dice Holding’s Inc.’s “America’s Tech Talent Crunch” report released in May. The area had three jobs open for every new computer science graduate.

Iowa, on the other hand, isn’t faced with a shortage.

Based on a comparison of a single day of job openings listed on www.Dice.com to the number of computer-related college degrees conferred in 2009, Iowa ranked No. 46 on the list of “shortage states” compiled by Dice, which administers a website for technology and engineering professionals and the companies that seek to employ them.

“Initially, right now, we don’t have that issue,” said Doug Lewis, a specialist in the innovation and commercialization division of the Iowa Department of Economic Development, adding that he doesn’t expect Iowa’s technology ecosystem to evolve overnight.

However, as more technology-oriented start-up companies launch and grow in places such as Greater Des Moines, employers of all shapes and sizes could feel pressured to ramp up their recruitment and retention efforts.

“When it does happen, you see a lot more people who are willing to jump ship,” Lewis said, adding that he is more concerned with Iowa’s ability to retain existing tech talent than he is with recruiting more workers to the state.

Bloomberg reported in March that median voluntary turnover at 616 tech companies rose 27 percent in the fourth quarter of 2010 from the first quarter, according to San Jose, Calif.-based compensation consultant Radford.

The quarterly IT Hiring Index and Skills report by Robert Half Technology showed that 80 percent of chief information officers were confident in their companies’ growth prospects in the second quarter of 2011, and 73 percent of technology executives were at least somewhat optimistic that their organizations would invest in IT projects during that period.

The Dice report indicated shortages could eventually lead to areas outside of “critical tech markets” such as Seattle, Boston, Los Angeles and Chicago as demand for mobile applications that are compatible with Google’s Android operating system and Apple Inc.’s iPhone increases.

Alice Hill, managing director of Dice.com, said turnover among computer programmers and information technology specialists will likely continue as workers are presented with new opportunities amid improving economic conditions.

“There is definitely now a climate where employees are thinking the best way to increase salaries, to get a new title or move up in the world is to go somewhere else,” Hill said. “I think it’s really important for employers to come up for a plan for protecting especially their A-level players.”

Forty-two percent of respondents to a survey by global outplacement and executive coaching consultancy Challenger, Gray & Christmas Inc. said they were growing more concerned about other companies poaching top talent as the economy improves.

Michigan, Florida, Pennsylvania and Iowa were among the 32 states that have more new college graduates with computer-related majors than those states had open jobs. In May, unemployment in the technology sector was hovering around 4 percent, according to Dice.