IT Industry Growing Stronger

Most people agree that, logically, the larger a problem is, the longer it takes to resolve. While the economy is no exception, signs are finally beginning to show that the job market may be improving. (Image courtesy of: http://bit.ly/cEjSP2)

From its peak in November of 2008, domestic information technology (IT) employment gradually decreased until August of 2009 when it flat-lined, and then remained level through to January of 2010. At the end of the first month of the new year, there was a 0.3% increase in IT employment. Figures show that the market had strengthened by an additional 0.37% by February. On a national scale, this increase translated into the creation of 3.8 million new jobs in domestic IT employment. While this was encouraging, IT employment in the U.S. was still roughly 3% lower at the start of February 2010 than it was at the start of February 2009.

Thankfully, the IT job market continued to strengthen throughout February of 2010. As of March 1st, the IT job market had expanded by seven percent nationally compared to last year. “We’re not seeing a huge rebound... what we’re seeing is a nice steady increase in recruiting activity,” said Scott Melland, CEO of major tech job board Dice.com.

Mark Roberts, CEO of TechServe Alliance, “a collaborative association of IT services firms,” believes that the continued growth of the industry throughout February of this year proved that January’s gain was not “an anomaly.” Roberts further stated that “an increase of over 25,000 IT jobs during the first two months of the year” is “ a positive harbinger for the future,” which “reflects renewed optimism among business leaders as they reverse recession-driven cutbacks.”

Sure the IT industry is only a single piece of the pie, but economists also expect a net gain of 300,000 jobs in the domestic job market as a whole by the end of March. Of course, some sources fear these newly created jobs may be only temporary positions meant to appear impressive for the 2010 Census. (Image courtesy of: http://bit.ly/93RFaD)

While these signs of strengthening job markets may not mean all is well again, they are definitely encouraging. With any luck, optimism will be contagious and more positive outlooks about the future will help to right the job market even faster.

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[Sources: http://bit.ly/bYHpm5, http://bit.ly/9cBoY0]