Job Openings for IT at 1.1 million and counting

Date: Monday, May 06, 2002 2:20 PM

*** H-1B NEWSLETTER ***

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Harris Miller, president of the ITAA, is a tough guy to keep up with. He
now
claims that hiring managers will have 1.1 million Information Technology
jobs that they need to filled in the next 12 months. That's a huge
number of
jobs and his number doesn't include all the other careers that H-1B is
used
for like scientists, engineers, college professors, nurses etc.

If we only talk about I.T. jobs and nothing else, Miller claims that
600,000
new jobs need to be filled in 2002. That averages out to 75,000 per
month
for the rest of 2002, and then 125,000 per month for the first 4 months
of
2003. Miller stated that 200,000 I.T. workers are jobless so if the
75,000
per year are now going to be hired that means that we will have zero
unemployment in just 2.5 months!

Using Miller's figures, it would seem as though we need to increase the
number of H-1B visas per year to more ten times it's present limit of
195,000. Increasing the limit to 1,950,000 wouldn't seem to be near high
enough to satisfy the enormous numbers of unfilled jobs that Miller is
predicting.

???
Is there something wrong with my arithmatic, or is Harris Miller full of
crap?
???

http://news.cnet.com/investor/news/newsitem/0-9900-1028-9842536-0.html?tag=a
ts

Information technology work force set to grow - report
05/05/02 09:00 PM
Source: Reuters
URL:
http://investor.cnet.com/investor/news/newsitem/0-9900-1028-9842536-0.html

SAN FRANCISCO, May 6 (Reuters) - The outlook for hiring in information
technology jobs -- one of the hardest hit sectors in last year's
downturn --
was starting to improve even as the national unemployment rate touched
its
highest level in more than 7-1/2 years, a report released on Monday
said.

Hiring managers report they will attempt to fill 1.1 million information
technology jobs in the next 12 months, according to the report by the
Information Technology Association of America industry group.

If that estimate is on target, the information technology job market is
in
the midst of a significant recovery after a sharp contraction last year.
"If
just half of these jobs are filled, the size of the IT work force will
be
restored to pre-2001 levels," the trade group said in its report.

In 2001, the U.S. information technology work force shrank 5 percent,
dropping to 9.9 million workers and reflecting the effects of the
economic
downturn and a near halt to new spending on corporate computer systems,
ITAA
said.

At the same time, spending on computer and communication products and
services grew less than 1 percent, to $813 billion last year -- far
slower
than the average 8 percent growth over the prior three years.

For growth to come back in related jobs in a meaningful way, corporate
investment needs to start to recover now as well, the Arlington,
Virginia-based group said.

"We're coming out of a recession, and the lock that's been on IT
spending
over the last 12 months is beginning to become unlocked," ITAA President
Harris Miller said.

The nation's unemployment rate jumped to 6 percent in April, the highest
level since August 1994 as jobseekers returned to the market faster than
U.S. companies added new positions.

Copyright 2002, Reuters News Service

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