eJobdescription logoIT job market growth slows to 5,700 in February from 9,800 in January according to BLS data says Janco

Even with the unemployment rate falling to 7.7% the jobs prospect for IT Pros is still mixed…

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Park City - UT - The latest BLS data shows a small increase in the number of employed IT professionals and prospects are mixed. The CEO of Janco Associates, Victor Janulaitis said, “According to BLS there were 5,700 more IT professionals employed in February than in January. However, much of the most recent growth has been in the government sector, and with “sequester” there could be a reduction in the number of those jobs. On the downside, the BLS has adjusted the number of jobs that were added in January from 12,500 to 9,800. ”

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The CEO added, “When we looked at the number of IT pros employed and compared that with our own independent survey of 106 CIOs in North America we can only conclude that the hiring freezes of 2008 through 2012 are slowly easing. We are seeing greater demand for mid-level managers and technologist who can address demands placed on CIOs for more ‘web-enabled’ applications” and security professionals.

Janco’s says, “CIOs are focusing on the near term demands to hire proven IT Pros and Consultants/Contractors. A number of CIOs who we have interviewed have plans in place for more robust hiring in the summer and fall…”

Unemployment Rate 4.3% for IT Pros Improves from 5.5%

Hiring Plans
Updated with the latest forecast - Read on...
Impact on the IT Job Market

The CEO said, “However, not all of the news is good. Janco continues to be concerned that the data shows the labor market participation rate remains at record low levels. Also with “sequester” there is a possibility that the recovery will falter and job growth could slow. The macro trend for labor participation since 2008 still is down by 1.5%. That translates to approximately 4 million people who are excluded from the labor force calculation. " The CEO expanded with the following caveat, “The year to year comparison of workforce participation shows how deep a hole we are in. Until those percentages turn around, the overall recovery will be weak at best. If that is the case, then there is a strong possibility that IT demand will be dampened, and overall IT job market size could fall back to the levels of 2010 and 2011. ”


Updated


Moving average of IT job market growth
Layoffs abound and there no longer is robust hiring trend for IT Professionals - the economy is slowing. However, there are a number of jobs unfilled by IT Pros. The primary culprit is the lack of qualified individuals to fill the open positions. In our opinion, the IT Job Market is currently at no growth!
Unfilled IT Jobs

IT Job Market Openings

The number of unfilled jobs trend line is down as the economy softens and CIOs and CFOs look to control costs and eliminate requisitions for positions that cannot be filled. There was a major pullback of the number of excess jobs for IT Pros - layoffs have impact on number of unfilled jobs available for IT Professionals.

Labor Participation Rate in the low 60's

Inflation is pushing more people back into the active labor market

Labor Force Participation rate stabilized at lowest level in the last 50 years

101.1 million people in the U.S. are not counted in the labor force - see reasons why not working.

 

Historic IT Job Market Size - 4.2 Million Employed as IT Pros

Historic IT Job Market Size

This is not the original data that was published.
It has been updated with data complied by Janco Associates with data as of March 2024.

In a continuing survey of CIOs, Janco has found many CIOs are cautious but feel that overall hiring will improve in 2013. The CEO of Janco said, “In telephone interviews in late January of 97 US based CIOs we found that many are looking to a more interesting future with sequester, tax increases, unsure economic future, and unstable world political situation. CIOs continue to closely manage their overall FTE (full time equivalent) head-counts level and adding staff for critical new developments. " He added, “A few CIOs in selected areas like SF Bay Area and Boston are bullish. ” Further he said, “CIOs are looking to add back management levels that were eliminated in the recession. In addition, CIOs are looking for particular sets of skills to meet the demands of mobile computing and towards implementation processes which will support users to use their own personal devices - BYOD (Bring Your Own Device). ”

Health Care vs. Financial Services Job Growth

The health care job market continues to be a bright spot on the overall US labor market and is one area where IT Pros can go with the flow and find job opportunities. The implementation of Electronic Patient Records is one of the driving forces in the increased opportunities in this area.

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