Re: first there is a mountain, then there is no mountain...

I'm not sure I would believe much that is based on any ITAA report (as is this article). They appear to have a hidden agenda. See: http://heather.cs.ucdavis.edu/itaa.real.html

Where I am, there were always three or more pages of ads in the help wanted section for IT. For the last two months, it has never exceeded two and a half columns - less than half a page. Even the local recruiters are whining about how dead the IT job market is here. When one Oracle DBA position came up recently, I got calls from six different recruiters within two days. Four of them I'd never even heard of before their call.

-Don Granaman
[certifiable Orasaurus]

• Original Message ----- To: "Multiple recipients of list ORACLE-L" <ORACLE-L_at_fatcity.com> Sent: Friday, August 31, 2001 4:05 PM

> http://www.computerworld.com/cwi/story/0,1199,NAV47_STO63459,00.html
>
> Demand still exceeds supply for IT workers, even though demand is lower
than
> one year ago. IT salaries up 6% this year, beating the 4% national
average.
> The bad news - flood of ex-dot-com workers has created a glut of people
with
> those skills.
>
>
> ComputerWorld
> By LINDA ROSENCRANCE
> (August 31, 2001) IT workers getting ready to enjoy the
> Labor Day weekend can celebrate the holiday knowing that
> they're in a field where demand remains strong despite the
> sluggish economy -- although that demand may not translate
> into higher salaries this year.
>
> To compete for skilled IT workers, companies aren't
> necessarily offering higher salaries. Employers are pushing
> other benefits, such as flexible hours, training and
> telecommuting choices to attract and retain employees,
> according to a Cutter Consortium survey of 47 Fortune 1,000
> companies.
>
>
> "The fact that companies are having trouble keeping up with
> market salaries means that salaries are rising more rapidly
> than expected," said Cutter consultant Chris Pickering, who
> wrote the report "Survey of E-Business and IT Practices."
> "This means that there is greater demand for IT staff than
> there is supply."
>
>
> To attract the best IT people, companies are allowing
> workers to telecommute and training them on technologies
> that will lead to work on cutting-edge projects.
>
>
> Pickering noted that the focus on nonsalary benefits
> supports one or both of these claims: the long-standing
> view that IT professionals are more concerned about working
> conditions and advancing their technical expertise and that
> companies have gone as far as they are willing to go in
> terms of salary, signaling a leveling off or decline in
> salary increases.
>
>
> Meanwhile, Computerworld's annual salary survey, which will
> be released Tuesday, shows that IT salaries are rising
> moderately this year, averaging just under 6% but still
> higher than the 4% raise the average U.S. worker can
> expect.
>
>
> A study released in April by the Information Technology
> Association of America (ITAA) -
> http://www.itaa.org/workforce/studies/01execsumm.htm - an
> Arlington, Va.-based trade group, also supports the view
> that demand for IT workers remains substantial although not
> as strong as the demand a year ago.
>
>
> An ITAA report titled "When Can You Start?" concluded that
> demand for IT workers is strong despite a 44% drop in
> demand from last year. Based on telephone interviews with
> 685 hiring managers, the report said that this year,
> employers will try to fill more than 900,000 new IT jobs
> and that 425,000 of those jobs will remain vacant. Last
> year, the ITAA said there were 850,000 openings for IT
> workers.
>
>
> According to the group, the jobs most in demand by IT and
> non-IT companies through the first quarter of 2002 remain
> in the area of technical support, although demand for
> technical support professionals is down 65% from last year.
> The ITAA added that while the slowdown in the economy has
> diminished IT spending, demand for IT talent with the
> requisite technical skills persists.
>
>
> Pickering said the glut of ex-dot-com workers flooding the
> job market has led to a mismatch of skills between
> employers and potential employees. According to
> Chicago-based outplacement firm Challenger, Gray &
> Christmas, 87,795 dot-com workers were laid off since
> January.
>
>
> "Java programmers are not in top demand now," Pickering
> said. "Because companies are concerned with integrating
> legacy systems with e-business systems, [people] with
> cross-application integration skills [are in demand]."
>
>
> Shuman Lee, director of analytics for online recruiting
> firm Techies.com in Bloomington, Minn., agreed that the
> demand for qualified IT professionals far outweighs the
> supply.
>
>
> "[Companies] can't get enough [IT] people. The technology
> field is just growing too rapidly," Lee said. "And
> [prospective employees] are getting more attractive
> packages."
>
>
> Lee said some of the best-paying jobs for those with IT
> skills are systems administration, where the average salary
> for a worker with 10 years of experience was $78,400,
> nearly 72% more than the average starting salary for this
> job title; project management, where employees can expect
> to earn about $47,400 to start and $93,600 after 10 years;
> and technology management, where 10-year veterans earn
> about $97,400, about twice the $48,600 starting salary.
> Entry-level positions in the last two categories, however,
> are hard to come by, Lee said.
>
>
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Author: Don Granaman
  INET: granaman_at_home.com

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