Take This Job and Shove "IT" - Trends 1st Qtr 2013

So you've been working the same job for how many years?  Well consider yourself lucky, many IT professionals are finding themselves unexpectedly on the street.  However, if this does happen, where does one begin?  Wasabi thought it would be nice to shine the light on where these jobs may be and if you're trying to reinvent yourself, show what are the hot trends in IT employment.

Jobs in the US

According to the Hiring Trends Survey by Express Employment Professionals, the Commercial and Light Industrial sector experienced the highest surge in job growth between January and March of 2013, claiming 38% of the total hiring. Marketing and Healthcare jobs trailed other types of positions in the first quarter reeling in 6% and 3% of the overall share, respectively. One strong showing is seen by Administrative and Office Clerical jobs having 23% of the hiring trend growth. With the economy the strongest it's been since the 2008 recession, companies are hiring more workers to handle business growth.

When asked about hiring expectations for the second quarter of 2013, only 30% do not plan to hire between April and June. Correlating with the data from the first quarter, the Commercial and Light Industrial sector remains the leading driver in job growth with 38%. While only 19% of companies plan to hire Administrative and Office Clerical jobs in the second quarter, more businesses are planning to hire Engineering positions than they did in the first quarter of 2013. This could be a good indication that there will be an overall boost in professional positions during the next few months.

WHAT ABOUT TECH

The unemployment rate for technology professionals averaged 3.5 percent  in the first quarter,

which compares to 7.7 percent for the overall U.S.  workforce. The last time the unemployment rate for IT pros was above the  national average—the first quarter of 2004.  

Taking the long view, what’s changed since March of 2004? 543,500  positions have been created in  technology consulting¹, 236,300  and 17,000 jobs have been lost in  computer and electronics  manufacturing and data processing  and hosting, respectively.  

In the first quarter of 2013, the  growth pattern is still evident in  technology consulting, with more  than 17,000 new positions added,  while jobs are still being lost in manufacturing and hosting.

The number of women working in technology consulting¹ has grown by  156,100 since March 2004. But, as a percentage of that workforce—the rate  is steady at 31 percent. The position gap is still evident, even if the  like-for-like pay gap has disappeared.  

Tech changes, but workforce trends have more or less stayed the same, with  one big exception—turnover

During the first two months of the first quarter, 380,000  employees in professional and business services quit their  positions on average, according to the Bureau of Labor  Statistics JOLTS report. That’s down from the fourth quarter  2012 rate of 389,000 per month.  

According to the NBER, the previous recession to the Great  Recession ended in November 2001. In the fourth quarter of  2001, 494,000 professionals on average quit their job each  month. In this recovery, there hasn’t been a one quarter that  cracked 400,000 – let alone approached 500,000.  

According to the BLS, “the quits rate can serve as a measure  of workers’ willingness or ability to leave jobs.” Despite the  good market in technology recruiting, shaky confidence in the  job market is somewhat justified.  

The number of layoffs and discharges averaged 386,500 for  employees in professional and business services in the first  two months of this year. Having more layoffs and discharges  than voluntary quits is the job market we have, not the job  market anyone wants. 

Source(s):

• http://www.expresspros.com/us/trends/2013/04/
• http://marketing.dice.com/pdf/2013-Q1TechTrendsFINAL.pdf

So “Once more unto the breach, dear friends, once more;”

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About Rick Ricker

An IT professional with over 21 years experience in Information Security, wireless broadband, network and Infrastructure design, development, and support.

For more information, contact Rick at (800) 399-6085