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Tech Job Updates

By Edward Cone on 2009-06-10


While the economy may show a few faint signs of strengthening, IT hiring managers still expect recessionary forces to dampen recruiting efforts for the next six months. New data from the U.S. Bureau of Labor Statistics (BLS), as well as survey results from a poll of 1,900 recruiters by tech employment gurus at Dice.com, gives a picture of the current IT job market.
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1. The national unemployment rate has inched closer to double digits, now reaching 9.4%.

2. The number of jobs lost dropped by 33% month-over-month, clocking in at 345,000 jobs lost for the month of May.

3. BLS reports that among all technology-related jobs, the economy lost 57,200 positions.

4. Certain segments within the IT industry actually gained positions, notably the Management/Technical Consulting Services category, which has seen a rise of 2,300 jobs over the last two months.

5. "Clearly, job security is more about where you work in IT, not if you work in IT," says David Foote, analyst for IT employment watchdog Foote Partners about recent trends.
"The recession has had minimal impact on demand for IT skills and jobs in the areas such as architecture, project management, business process, security, communications, (and) several ERP and infrastructure specializations."

6. Among recruiters polled by Dice.com, 43% said they thought another round of layoffs is likely for IT workers.

7. 57% said salaries for new IT jobs are down year-over-year.

8. Approximately 50% reported that the time to fill IT jobs has lengthened.

9. Of those who reported longer hiring cycles, 65% blamed it on caution related to the economy and 22% reported there was no sense of urgency to fill positions.

10. More than half of hiring managers report a significant uptick in the number of employees seeking IT positions over the last six months.

11. Among the good signs, 90% of recruiters said they have at least one difficult-to-find skill or position to fill in IT.

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