The modest increase in job numbers in Silicon Valley in 2005, although small, signals good tidings for the future, according to European based analyst firm Ovum.

In a research comment, Ovum says around 2000 jobs were added, mostly high-end positions in creative and knowledge-intensive roles, according to Russell Hancock, president and chief executive of Joint Venture Silicon Valley, the non-profit association that monitors the economy of the Valley and produced the research.

While this is a very small net increase in jobs, just 0.2% of the 1.15 million people with jobs in the Valley, coming after four years of job declines following the "tech bust", and the shifting of much of the hard graft of software development to low-wage economies, it looks to be a very good sign for the future.

According to Ovum, things are moving once again in the Valley, with Highway 101, the main thoroughfare, busy once more.

A large number of US software vendors will be reporting their 2005 annual results over the next two or three weeks and  others will report their calendar Q4. Ovum expects good news from most of them.