U.S. employment numbers released by the Department of Labor’s Bureau of Labor Statistics (BLS) revealed a net gain of 4,400 IT-related jobs in November for the sixth straight month of net jobs gains in IT labor segments. Five bellweather IT job segments in the BLS data showed a net gain of 45,100 jobs from June through November, with the Management and Technical Consulting Services segment accounting for 25,800 (57.2 percent) of these new jobs. This segment has posted gains in nine of the last 12 months of federal labor data.
The Management and Technical Consulting Services segment of the DOL/BLS employment report gained 3,700 jobs in November, the highest of an IT job category. The second highest net job gain occurred in the Computer Systems Design and Related Services jobs segment, which added 900 jobs in the month, contributing to a total of 17,000 new jobs over the last six months in the category. Jobs in the Data Processing, Hosted and Related Services segment remained unchanged after adding 500 jobs in October. The worst performing segments in November were two job segments in the Computer and Electronics Products industry category, Communications Equipment and Computer and Peripheral Equipment.
“The fact is, there’s a tremendous amount of work to get done and CIOs are under almost unbearable pressures to get it right and make it quick. Without the authorization to hire enough full time workers to meet these demands, not to mention the time it takes to find workers with specialized skills, they’re looking to the IT services industry more than ever before for help. Of course this has been driving some very healthy jobs growth in this industry sector,” said David Foote, CEO and chief research officer at IT analyst firm Foote Partners.
“I don’t want to overemphasize CIOs’ dependency on contractors, consultants and managed services: indeed they’re also making key hires in many areas, but it’s clear that demand for full time workers outside the services sector in particular has not gained the kind of momentum that many analysts and pundits had been predicting this year.”
For more, read the eWeek article: IT Professionals Labor Market Stagnating, Report Finds.
