IT Hiring Down Again, But ITAA Says Workforce Stabilizing
1/8/2003 -- In a report released last month, the Information Technology Association of America (ITAA) said that despite a significant drop in hiring, the U.S. IT workforce is stabilizing thanks to an even bigger decrease in layoffs.
According to the ITAA, only 1.18 million IT positions were filled between between Oct. 2001 and Oct. 2002 , as compared to more than 2 million during the 12 months between Jan. 2001 and Jan. 2002. But hiring outpaced layoffs, with only 844,0000 tech workers laid off during those 12 months, as compared to 2.6 million during 2001.
"Both hiring and dismissals are far below January numbers, which may signal a stabilization of the IT workforce after the roller coaster of the recent year," commented ITAA President Harris Miller.
In fact, the IT industry actually grew over the last quarter. According to the quarterly update of the ITAA's annual workforce survey, the IT industry gained 147,000 jobs in the third quarter of 2002, bringing the total size of the workforce 10,123,000. However, the news isn't good for everyone -- while most IT areas are seeing slight to moderate gains, demand for network administrators has dropped eight percent since the beginning of 2002.
The ITAA is an industry association that promotes public policy, research and networking for IT industry organizations. More information about the study and the ITAA can be found here.  - B.N.
|
There are 56  user Comments for “IT Hiring Down Again, But ITAA Says Workforce Stabilizing”
|
|
Page 5 of 6
|
| 1/23/03: Erick from DE says: |
The jobs that are moved offshore will be the ones that do NOT require your presence at a work site. That fact should be part of every nervous IT person's thought process out there. Ask yourself, do you want to stay in IT? Is your love of the job keeping you in, or is it the "dream" of a a big payday- eventually? If you love it, stay in {and maybe relocate} and adapt to the everchanging realities, no matter how gross they are. Otherwise, retrain for another way of making money. Let's face it. None of us can photosynthesise. If you are retraining, use your brains and train for work that actually exists in your geographic region. Don't obsess on what isn't and can't be. |
| 1/27/03: Anonymous says: |
Companies will always pay for people who can solve problems and either save money or increase earnings. Certs, degrees, and experience are simply the tools used to convince them that you can do it. Focus on what is in the company's best interest, and you'll always find something in your own best interest. |
| 1/29/03: Screw Tech Careers says: |
I think tech careers are the most unstable in the history of mankind. All it takes is five years or less and what you learned turns obsolete. You go to an IT consulting firm and the best they can do is offer you a contractual position. So my advice for you thinking about making a career in IT - screw it. You would do better being a librarian, a chef, a mechanic, a nurse, a doctor, an engineer(except software engineer), a teacher, a preacher, a beautician. |
| 1/29/03: Anonymous says: |
Maybe the problem for some is that their spelling and written communication skills are awful. |
| 1/29/03: ;) says: |
Anonymous has a very god peanut there. |
| 1/31/03: Anonymous says: |
I work for Ge, and my position is being out sourced and its not tech support. They are now bring the Indians over here to take our jobs. To Abdula, enjoy your $3.50 for now. It won't be long before you don't have that job, when all the business owners begin to get complaints from their cusotomer/workers about not being able to understand what you are saying. |
| 2/7/03: Explaining Abdul says: |
It seems as if Abdul really wants to make look bad people from India. Maybe he is a nazi wanting to make look bad people from other countries |
| 2/28/03: zooeyhall says: |
I am an IT person in Nebraska, and although I am glad to see the report that says IT employment is stabilizing, I see a worrisome trend developing. My example: Union Pacific is one of the largest employers in Omaha. Recently, they announced massive layoffs; starting in their IT departement. A few days later there was an article in the business secion of the Omaha World-Herald newspaper. They had signed a contract with a company in India to outsource 200 former IT positions. When asked about it, the Union Pacific spokesman was upfront about the reason: "We can reduce our IT support costs 60-80% by going overseas". |
| 3/2/03: Guillermo Vargas from Dayton, Ohio says: |
Pro-certification sites, like CertCities.com, have a conflict of interest in this matter. They want to sell more certification training and tests for their advertisers. Therefore their predictions about IT employment are overly optimistic. Read the following articles for a more realistic view of the situation. Big Outsourcing Shift Predicted for IT Jobs JANUARY 27, 2003 http://www.computerworld.com/managementtopics/management/outsourcing/story/0,10801,77881,00.html "A new report on the IT labor market predicts that 35% to 45% of full-time IT jobs in the U.S. and Canada will be shifted to contractors, consultants, offshore technicians or part-time workers by 2005. " The Art of Outsourcing Feb 12, 2003 http://www.wallstreetandtech.com/story/currentIssue/WST20030212S0003 "But one thing is certain - outsourcing is quickly becoming a trend no one can afford to overlook." A suicidal country February 26, 2003 http://www.townhall.com/columnists/paulcraigroberts/pcr20030226.shtml "Do you remember those Information Technology (IT) jobs that were going to take the place in the "new economy" of those outsourced manufacturing jobs? Don't bother to retrain. The IT jobs are leaving, too. " Ed Yourdon caught a lot of flack in the go-go 90's for his book "The Decline and Fall of the American Progammer". But his prediction of the inevitable decline of the American IT industry (as a source of employment for Americans) seems to be coming true. It doesn't matter how many certifications you have, or how many degrees you have, or how many hours you work, or how "evergreen" you are, or how vigorously you network if the economics are such that the salary of an American programmer is $30,000-60,000 per year and an Indian or Chinese or East European programmer is $3,000-6,000 per year. The suits are going to hire the low cost laborer (they always have, they always will). Wouldn't you? (Be honest!) After all, it makes good business sense to lower your costs to produce your product or service. The company I work for (a Fortune 50 company) has already exported almost all manufacturing jobs out of the U.S., twice. First to Mexico and now to the Pacific Rim where the costs are even lower than Mexico (if you can believe it). The engineering and design jobs (long with some managment jobs)are already following the manufactring job. Over half of the IT jobs have been outsourced already and the rumor is that more cuts are to come by the end of the year. I am an engineer (with three college degrees) working in IT. I love technology. I love learning new things. I have actually worked 100 hour weeks. I have worked throught Thanksgiving and Christmas and New Years. I want to work in IT. But I am thinking of trying to break into pharmaceutical or medical equipment sales (or maybe real-estate or insurance) before I wind up flipping burgers. "Abdul in India" is probably an American IT worker satirizing the situation. But, sadly, there is much truth in what he says. [email protected] |
| 3/2/03: Guillermo Vargas from Dayton, Ohio says: |
More good news: Many Laid-off Silicon Valley Techies Work For Free USA TODAY By Jon Swartz, Thursday, February 27, 2003 SAN FRANCISCO -- Laid-off tech worker Henry Fan accepted a job offer last month from a Silicon Valley start-up -- a rarity in the job-starved tech market. But it had a catch: Fan, 32, had to work for free. The surplus of tech workers could make it tougher for paid employees to get raises and may eventually depress salaries, says Mark Zandi, chief economist of Economy.com. |
First Page Previous Page Next Page Last Page
|
|
|
|
