American employers will hire 270,000 fewer business-technology workers this year than in 2003, according to a poll of 500 hiring managers by the Information Technology Association of America, providing fresh evidence that the IT-labor market continues to weaken.
"This is still not the job market America's IT workers have been hoping for," ITAA president Harris Miller said last week in a statement. "Increased competition appears to be the rule for 2004 here and abroad."
Though the forecast is grim, IT employment actually rose between the first quarter of 2003 and the first quarter of 2004, albeit by a paltry 2%. Banking, finance, manufacturing, food service, and transportation companies provided the bulk of the employment, accounting for 79% of the IT workforce.
Despite a general improvement in the economy, employers remain cautious about hiring, the report says. Some blame climbing employee-benefit costs for the hiring slowdown. In addition, savings brought on by offshore outsourcing and new technologies and business models mean companies can continue to be productive without hiring new personnel.
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