Posted on 09/18/2003 4:03:48 PM PDT by Mini-14
About 150,000 IT positions were lost in 2001 and 2002
SEPTEMBER 17, 2003
The study, which was presented at a congressional forum today by the Washington-based nonprofit group Commission on Professionals in Science and Technology (CPST), affirms what IT managers have seen in response to help-wanted ads. "I'm sure the number is 6% or higher," said Michael Russo, a data center manager at Wyeth, a Madison, N.J.-based pharmaceuticals giant.
A recent third-shift job in the company's operational data center drew 168 applicants. "There are a lot of people who are out of work," Russo said.
Randy Rosenthal, manager of computer operations at Southwest Securities Group Inc. in Dallas, has seen the same trend: highly qualified people with multiple degrees applying for jobs IT managers once had trouble filling. "That tells me that 6% has hit the IT area pretty hard," he said.
About 150,000 IT positions were lost in 2001 and 2002, about two-thirds of them in programming, the report said.
Two years ago, Phoenix-based water and electric utility Salt River Project had an open position for an operations analyst and received about 15 applications; last year, it posted a similar position and had 50 applicants. This year the 800,000-customer utility has a hiring freeze, said operations manager Dewayne Nelsen.
There was a sense of grim resignation about the latest report among some IT managers at a conference held here by AFCOM, an Orange, Calif.-based data center managers user group.
Several IT managers, some requesting that their names not be used, told of data center consolidations that led to layoffs or offshore plans. For the future, automation improvements and the development of "self-healing" applications will also hurt some IT career paths. The career advice from one IT manager was to avoid the technical aspects of the profession and focus more on IT management training.
IT unemployment rates were as low as 1.2% in 1997, shooting up to 4.3% in 2002.
But the overall number of IT jobs has seen remarkable growth, tripling in the past 20 years, according to the CPST, which conducts labor force and educational research for a range of scientific organizations and companies. The IT labor force grew from 719,000 jobs in 1983 to 2.5 million at its peak in 2000.
With the growth of IT came an increasing reliance upon foreign workers. This increase was facilitated by legislation expanding the use of H-1B visas, which allow skilled foreign workers to take jobs in the U.S. for up to six years. A cap of 195,000 on the number of visas that can be issued has been in place for each of the past three years, but the cap will drop to 65,000 on Oct. 1. L-1 visas, which allow companies to transfer foreign employees into the U.S., have tripled in use.
The report, sponsored by the Alfred P. Sloan Foundation in New York and the United Engineering Foundation, an umbrella organization for engineering groups, draws no firm conclusion on the offshore outsourcing trend. But it recognizes predictions made by analyst firms, including Gartner Inc., which in July estimated that 10% of all U.S. professional jobs in IT services companies would be transferred overseas, along with 5% of IT positions in other businesses.
Long term, the report says more research is needed on the effects of offshore outsourcing and the workforce issues raised by it: "Can the U.S. continue to be a prime market for the rest of the world if it is a stronghold for neither manufacturing nor technical services?" the report asks. "What are the long-run implications of these trends for American standards of living?"
The CPST report concludes that while the job market for IT professionals has weakened, it remains sizable.
"For the near run, normal turnover alone will generate opportunities for people who are determined to work in the field," the report said. "The long-run outlook is more problematic. The United States does not lack, either now or in the foreseeable future, sufficient numbers of capable people who would like to work in IT. But those people may not be willing to conclude that long-run demands for their services will be good enough to support IT as a sensible career choice."
I know you better than that!
I think your vision is skewed by the fact that the United 49 States, excluding California, are not having a recession and have not had one in the last 3 years. All the carnage is in your back yard.
Outside CA, and your industry, the GDP is growing, jobs are growing and the outlook is good.
So9
Where is here?
What do you call big?
Was it ever not a recession by your standards, and when?
SO9
There is no such thing as "corporate welfare." This is an invention of the leftists, and you should be ashamed of yourself for (i) letting it infiltrate your mind and (ii) promulgatig it on a conservative board.
But there is nothing to apologize for: your posts are well thought our and civil. If anything, I'd like to thank you.
I too am appalled at the laxity of our borders and the consequent loss of jobs and tax dollars. I cannot find any excuse for Bush not to have shut the borders immediately after Sep 11 (yes, I'll still vote for him, but I find that inexcusable)
Most people nowadays b----ch about something else: that daddy-Bush (government) should protect them from their jobs being outsourced. That has nothing to do with the conserbative view of the economy, and that is were I part company. It appears, however, that you are not in that category, Chemist.
Thanks again for your posts.
Of course there isn't. Geez.
the PC movement has screwed up life for lots of educated Indians. Quotas for untouchables have forced educated IT professionals to come over here on VISAs to find work. Read this months National Geographic.
What about the farm bill?
What about all the taxes that we pay to support all the foreigners that use our schools our roads etc. These "workers" are not here for the benefit of the general public, they are here for the benefit of corporations. So in essence the tax payer pays for corporations to have an unlimited supply of low cost foreign workers. If this is not corporate welfare what is it?
Amen.
People still strongly believe this nonsense.
Just watch the evening news.
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