Current Unemployment Rate in the IT Industry?

concerned-about-employment asks: "What's the unemployment rate in the IT industry currently? Years ago I heard it was 8-9% but with so many jobs going offshore and the general unemployment rate rising, could it be even higher than before? Has it really broken 10% as some people say? That would mean 1 out of every 10 IT workers is out of a job. Personally though, from the perspective of a recent college graduate, it looks like 20% from here." How does the actual national unemployment rate in IT compare to the number of IT professionals that you know who are currently out of work?

Comments

Just got rehired

[arkham6]

After a 7 month period of no job, i can say it is rough out there. The tech companies in my area are VERY picky now about who they hire, and they pay a LOT less. I knew of one big financial firm that wanted a webmaster/developer/Unix SA and were willing to pay 35k for it, and that was the upper max.

Also, be prepared to move to different parts of the country. From what I hear, Silicon Valley isnt so hot any more, but other areas, like Conn. and Raleigh/Durham, NC are much better.

Official US number is 7.2%

[DeepRedux]

According to the US Bureau of Labor Statistics, the unemployment rate in the "information" section was 7.2% in December 2002 and 6.5% in December of 2003. The actual number of unemployed was 255K in 12/2002 and 224 in 12/2003.

Re:Do it as your hobby

[crazyphilman]

Funny post! Good one...

I mean, you ARE kidding, right?

Because A whole slew of articles in business magazines have been talking about how the success of outsourcing IT has given Corporate America all sorts of interesting ideas. Like outsourcing "non-core" departments, like HR, Payroll, Accounting, legal research, business forecasting and strategy, almost all of middle management...

You DID know about that, right? Cause if you weren't joking, boy are YOU in for a shock... :)

It's worse than that...

[Kevin Burtch]

I know people who are no longer considered to be in the IT industry as they've had to get jobs stacking boxes at Home Depot, etc.

They aren't counted since they aren't unemployed, even though they ARE unemployed from their profession.
Any IT-specific numbers you find will be wrong for this reason.

I'm not talking a 1st level phone-jockey, I'm talking about talented sysadmins with many years of experience!

College Grads Grab the Spots

[MissMarvel]

The high rate of employment in IT has been of concern to me. My neice recently graduated from Gonzaga. I worried she might not be able to find employment in her field (Computer engineering), but she was picked up almost immediately by a defense contracter in southern California. According to her, they interviewed 200 graduates and hired well over 50 of them.

It makes me think companies are opting to fill open positions with younger people whom they can hire at a much lower salary.