Tech Job Market Remains Bleak

[Dave Farber <dave () farber net>]

We are getting ourselves into the position of "the world can say no" djf


Tech Job Market Remains Bleak
May 5, 2003
Technology job hunters will find slim pickings for at least another year,
according to a new survey released Monday.

Demand for information technology positions ranging from software
programmers to network engineers will hold steady or decline in the next 12
months, according to a telephone poll of 400 hiring managers by the
Arlington, Va.-based Information Technology Association of America.

"The fact that firms have dramatically scaled back ... may indicate that
they are properly staffed to handle existing and new business," ITAA
President Harris N. Miller said.

The survey found there are about 493,000 unfilled technology jobs in the
United States, down from 1.6 million open positions at the start of 2000.
The United States has about 10.3 million technology jobs.

The tight market for technology jobs comes as hundreds of American companies
outsource positions to smaller engineering and programming firms in India,
China, Russia and other countries with inexpensive labor forces.

Nearly one in four large technology companies surveyed said they had already
outsourced technology work to foreign countries, and an additional 15
percent of large technology companies said they were considering a similar
move within the next year.

Technology companies in the West and Midwest were most likely to send jobs
overseas, according to the survey. The most likely positions to move
overseas were programming and software engineering jobs, followed by network
design and Web development.

Although the hiring outlook remained bleak, the survey found that three out
of four companies had maintained the salaries of existing technology
employees. Of those companies that changed compensation, only 8 percent
lowered pay, while the rest increased paychecks. 

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