Job growth for IT professionals improved slightly
March data shows an increase of 3,600 jobs - 21,500 in last year
Job growth for IT professionals improved slightly - The March 2011 U.S. Department of Labor National Employment Report shows a continuation of sluggish growth in the Information Technology job market. Janco Associates has analyzed the data and finds a net gain of only 3,600 seasonally adjusted jobs in March for the IT sector. In the last three months (January 2010 through March 2011) there has been an improvement with an increase of 21,500 seasonally adjusted number of jobs. In the last 12 months the total number of jobs has gone from 2,719,100 to 2,740,600 - or 0.79% which still is not enough to absorb recent college graduates and other entrants into the IT job market.
As has been the recent history with the BLS labor data, the prior months (February 2011) seasonally adjusted net gain of jobs was reduced from 2,600 to 2,300.
The CEO of Janco, Victor Janulaitis said, “While the report that was published paints a much more positive picture, the data for the IT sector shows continued stress in Telecommunications with a loss of 43,400 jobs in the past twelve months which is countered with a growth of 57,300 in Computer System Design and 11,500 jobs in Information Services.” He added, “The jobs picture has improved, however the impact of the recent disaster in Japan has not been factored in as of yet. As supplies of critical parts manufactured in Japan dwindle there is the potential for a significant adverse impact on the overall economic conditions that drive IT employment.”
Based on this data and interviews that Janco has conducted, the CEO said they predict there will be more churn in IT staff as CIOs accelerate their move to more flexible staffing models. Janulaitis added, “CIOs are outsourcing more technical work, including managed IP services such as VoIP and VPNs. They are hiring more contractors for desktop and security services, and they are putting more applications such as remote backup in the cloud. At the same time, they are looking to hire IT people with business and analytical skills, such as risk management and project management. “
Janco has found that despite recent economic reports that show jobless claims have been down for several consecutive weeks, employees reveal mixed feelings about what is in store at their employer, for the overall job market and for their pay check in the year ahead, according to the fourth-quarter employment confidence survey of 2,118 U.S. adults.
Net Change in Number of Jobs
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Information Technology Employment data
