Tech Jobs to Bounce Back

May 6, 2002 (PLANSPONSOR.com) - When the tech bubble burst, thousands of tech industry jobs disappeared along with it - an estimated 5% or half million jobs in the last year, according to a new trade group survey.

The good news is that the Information Technology Association of America (ITAA) survey also found that hiring managers expected to start refilling jobs in the coming year.

ITAA president Harris Miller called the study a “good news/bad news report.”

The study revealed that:

  • managers estimate they will try filling 1.1 million jobs in the next 12 months. Nearly 600,000, however, will go unfilled due to a lack of qualified workers,
  • hiring managers continue to place a premium on previous experience,
  • the importance of certifications also increased,
  • IT work appears to be migrating south, with demand for IT workers in the Midwest and West falling 68% and 71% since 2000, and
  • companies employ more programmers than any other type of IT worker

ITAA said its survey was based on telephone interviews with 532 hiring managers, selected at random at IT and non-IT companies.

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