News
Hiring Outlook for IT Workers Remains Gloomy
It looks like the IT hiring slowdown will last into the near future—and maybe beyond, according to a study by the Information Technology Association of America.
The latest study by ITAA found that the U.S. IT workforce has grown less than a percent
since the start of the year, and IT hiring managers don’t see an increase
in that rate anytime soon.
The ITAA survey, released in late September, found that the overall size
of the IT workforce has grown by only 85,437 positions since January,
from 9,895,916 to 9,981,353. Although 782,466 IT workers were hired, 697,029
lost their jobs during the same period.
“Today’s survey results are one more indication that where the overall
economy may be recovering, the IT marketplace is still coping with recession,”
ITAA President Harris N. Miller was quoted as saying in a press release.
“Hiring managers appear to be less bullish than at the start of the year—even
as many forecasters have predicted an IT industry turnaround in 2003.”
One silver lining in the dark cloud of the report is that currently employed
IT workers are more likely to keep their jobs than in the recent past.
According to the report, between January and December 2001, companies
let go 2.6 million IT workers or more than 218,000 per month. Between
July 2001 and June 2002, the monthly total dropped to 116,000. Those figures
suggest that companies have stabilized their staffing levels.
Another significant finding of the study is that it’s good to be a tech
support specialist. It’s the most in-demand IT worker in the current climate,
with nearly a third of the 440,282 hires in the last three months in that
area. Web developers also fared well, with 93,410 added to company rolls
during the same period, followed by network design specialists and administrators
with 47,463.
About the Author
Keith Ward is the editor in chief of Virtualization & Cloud Review. Follow him on Twitter @VirtReviewKeith.