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IT Jobs Stabilize; Tech Unemployment Rate 5.5%
Information Week ^ | 2009-07-06

Posted on 07/06/2009 10:12:36 AM PDT by rabscuttle385

The job picture shows IT jobs suffering along with the rest of the economy, but the hemorrhaging appears to have stopped in 2Q.

BY CHRIS MURPHY

The hemorrhaging of IT jobs stopped in the second quarter, as the IT sector added about 44,000 jobs amid a moribund white-collar job market, the latest government surveys show. However, the IT unemployment rate, at 5.5%, remains at its worst mark in five years.

The economy employs about 8% fewer IT professionals than one year ago, a 343,000 job decline, with just under 3.8 million employed today. The analysis is based on Bureau of Labor Statistics household surveys, in which people classify themselves into job types. The BLS recognizes eight IT job categories.

The IT unemployment rate continued to rise, reaching 5.5%, even as the sector added jobs because more people entered the IT workforce, which includes both the employed and the unemployed.

The IT workforce is just over 4 million, including 221,000 unemployed. For management and professional occupations, the unemployment rate is 4.4%. For the economy overall, unemployment rose to 9.5% last month.

IT employment had held up well for the first half of 2008 as the recession began, holding above 4 million jobs, but then starting losing jobs in the third quarter of last year before sinking 6% in the fourth quarter.

The job segments with the biggest second quarter declines compared with a year ago are the two largest IT job segments, computer scientists and system analysts (down 17% from a year ago), and software engineers (down 12%). Programmer jobs are down 5%, and IT managers down 3%.

Broadly, the employment picture suggests IT jobs are suffering along with the rest of the economy, but there doesn't appear to be the kind of fundamental restructuring that happened in the last recession, when a number of factors including the growth of offshore outsourcing led to the U.S. losing a quarter of programmer jobs.


TOPICS: Business/Economy; News/Current Events
KEYWORDS: jobs; tech; unemployment
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1 posted on 07/06/2009 10:12:36 AM PDT by rabscuttle385
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To: ShadowAce

fyi


2 posted on 07/06/2009 10:12:46 AM PDT by rabscuttle385 ("If this be treason, then make the most of it!" —Patrick Henry)
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To: wafflehouse; Leisler; PAR35; TigerLikesRooster; AndyJackson; Thane_Banquo; nicksaunt; ...
*Ping!*
3 posted on 07/06/2009 10:13:06 AM PDT by rabscuttle385 ("If this be treason, then make the most of it!" —Patrick Henry)
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To: rabscuttle385

Perhaps this makes up for the fact that so many IT guys are large walking genitalia.


4 posted on 07/06/2009 10:13:35 AM PDT by domenad (In all things, in all ways, at all times, let honor guide me.)
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To: domenad

I see an Asbestos suit in your future....LOL


5 posted on 07/06/2009 10:14:29 AM PDT by conservativehusker (GO BIG RED!!!!)
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To: rabscuttle385
They should not have reported this. The First Thug is going to see this and decide to 'fix it' with a Hostile Bendover.

Because we all know that The One is just so much effing smarter than us puny humans. /sarc.

6 posted on 07/06/2009 10:15:12 AM PDT by kromike
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To: domenad

“Listen mister, Big Dave Diode don’t LIKE other people sittin’ on his bunk!” “How’d you like to wake up one morning and find your credit rating slashed?”


7 posted on 07/06/2009 10:16:46 AM PDT by dfwgator
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To: rabscuttle385

This is only because IT took a great many of its hits over the last 8 years or so. There is certainly no growth happening in IT to speak of and what growth there is, is filled by importing in or sending overseas.


8 posted on 07/06/2009 10:18:17 AM PDT by DonaldC
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To: rabscuttle385

Prices are way down in tech however. Massive undercutting by the cheapest offshoring ever.


9 posted on 07/06/2009 10:18:34 AM PDT by FreepShop1
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To: rabscuttle385

5.5% in tech is nothing. It is the average rate as IT people tend to move between contracts fairly often.


10 posted on 07/06/2009 10:19:07 AM PDT by CodeToad (If it weren't for physics and law enforcement I'd be unstoppable!)
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To: rdb3; Calvinist_Dark_Lord; GodGunsandGuts; CyberCowboy777; Salo; Bobsat; JosephW; ...

11 posted on 07/06/2009 10:20:48 AM PDT by ShadowAce (Linux -- The Ultimate Windows Service Pack)
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To: CodeToad

The job of IT is to require fewer people to support IT over time, so as technology continues to advance there will be fewer people needed to support it.


12 posted on 07/06/2009 10:20:51 AM PDT by dfwgator
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To: domenad
Mr. C. Ubicle, we need to install some new trojans, malware, keyloggers, and viruses anti-virus signatures on your system. They'll completely remove the possibility of your continued employment here next week any problems.
13 posted on 07/06/2009 10:21:52 AM PDT by angkor
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To: rabscuttle385

This recession is NOTHING in IT compared to the tech bubble popping. The rest of the economy is going to bear the brunt of this one. A lot of companies are overplaying their hands trying to abuse IT workers due ot the “down market” and are going to see a lot of talent walk because of it.

This market is nowhere near for IT what it was in 02/03, and many companies are acting like it is.


14 posted on 07/06/2009 10:22:47 AM PDT by HamiltonJay
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To: CodeToad

>>> 5.5% in tech is nothing. <<<<

I agree. I read this and thought “So what.”


15 posted on 07/06/2009 10:23:01 AM PDT by angkor
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To: rabscuttle385

Tech unemployment at 5.5%?

Try 50% underemployment. Most techs I know are not working in a tech job, or at one that pays $10 per hour, after 4 years of college and 10-30 years of tech experience.


16 posted on 07/06/2009 10:23:17 AM PDT by bIlluminati (The kingdom of heaven is among us.)
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To: rabscuttle385

untold backstory is that large numbers of H1B tech workers are going back home, which tends to hold the numerical rate steady


17 posted on 07/06/2009 10:25:44 AM PDT by Buckeye McFrog
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To: dfwgator

Maybe. We find more and more creative ways to use IT so it has grown for decades and will probably continue to grow.

It was only in 1943 when Tom Watson, the President of IBM, was alledged to have said, “I think there is a world market for maybe five computers”. Some say he never said it but it seems to have been a strong idea of the time.


18 posted on 07/06/2009 10:25:47 AM PDT by CodeToad (If it weren't for physics and law enforcement I'd be unstoppable!)
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To: FreepShop1

>>> Prices are way down in tech however. Massive undercutting by the cheapest offshoring ever <<<<

Maybe in some areas of IT.

Certainly not in all.


19 posted on 07/06/2009 10:26:15 AM PDT by angkor
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To: domenad
Wow, who knew you had animal porn on your facebook page?

Don't mess with the IT guys. ;)

But yes, in general, we're mostly Richards.

/johnny

20 posted on 07/06/2009 10:26:34 AM PDT by JRandomFreeper (God Bless us all, each, and every one.)
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