Stalled Budgets Stand In The Way Of IT Hiring
by Jenny ThomasAfter years of cutbacks and doing more with less, there is no doubt that IT departments around the United States are ready to start growing again. But it seems many companies are still reluctant to start throwing money into IT as they wait and see whether the economy is truly stabilizing.
The analysts at Janco Associates have been deciphering the latest numbers in the IT slice of the job market, and although August did see a modest gain of 7,000 new IT jobs, many companies continue to wait for the green light from executive management to increase spending.
In the last three (3) month the IT Job market shrank by 3,900 jobs. This chart is not the originally published one, rather it is updated with the current data based on the analysis by Janco Associates, Inc. For the latest IT Employment Data click here. Subscribe to our Newsletter to get this information delivered to your inbox as soon as it is released. SUBSCRIBE
Labor Participation Rate in the low 60's
Inflation is pushing more people back into the active labor market
101.3 million people in the U.S. are not counted in the labor force - see reasons why not working.
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Unemployment Rate 2.3% - Lower than the National Unemployment Rate
Janco forecasts that there will be a high demand for IT Pros in the CY 2025
Updated with the latest forecast - Read on...
Impact on the IT Job Market
Victor Janulaitis, CEO of Janco Associates, said his analysts conducted interviews with over 105 CIOs in the last 30 days. Based on those conversations, "we concluded that CIOs want to hire but are being directed to hold off by management. "
If you glance at your calendar, you will realize that even though we still have more than three months to go in 2013, companies are beginning to map out their 2014 budgets as they usually do this time of year. But the CIOs interviewed by Janco analysts seem to hold out little hope for an influx of cash.
"Most of the CIOs we interviewed do not feel they will be able expand staff size over the next 12 months," Janulaitis said. "Over two-thirds of the interviewed CIOs say that the network infrastructure, which many have not been able to update because of budget limitations, is making it more difficult to implement new technologies without significantly increase costs. "
You don't need to be an analyst to see what's going on, IT departments need larger budgets and staff to keep up with the pace of technology.
Budget headaches aside, if you're searching for work in IT, what you really care about is where the jobs are. The August numbers for IT jobs added, although still a gain, were a drop from previous months. July was a good month for IT netting 11,200 new jobs, which was a small jump over the 10,500 jobs added in June.
The 7,000 jobs added in August were driven by increases in computer systems design and related services of 2,400 jobs (versus 3,400 added in July); telecommunications gained 2,700 jobs (and 3,200 in July); and other information services gained 2,000 jobs (versus 3,400 IT jobs in July). Data processing and hosting related services lost 100 jobs (versus 1,600 jobs added in July).
So where can you find these open positions? Janco continues to point to the healthcare job market and the implementation of electronic patient records as one of the driving forces in increased opportunities in this area. But other studies suggest location might have a lot to do with your chances of landing a new position.
Last year, we reported on a Dice survey that suggested states with booming tech industries, like California, Virginia, Texas, New York, and Florida, might have more opportunities for IT job seekers. If there's nothing brewing in your area, it makes sense to broaden your search area, although that's still no guarantee of employment.
If we figure out the secret to finding jobs in IT, we will be the first to report it to you.
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