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Forrester Says Tech Downturn Is "Unofficially Over"
alphadogg writes "The US IT market will grow by 6.6% as high-tech spending rebounds in 2010, according to Forrester Research's latest estimates. The research firm based its projections on data reported for 2009, though its fourth quarter numbers are incomplete. Forrester says hints of a recovery surfaced in the third quarter, and now the company expects the global IT market to grow by 8.1% in 2010. Forrester's US and Global IT Market Outlook: Q4 2009 reads: 'The tech downturn of 2008 and 2009 is unofficially over, while the Q3 2009 data for the US and the global market showed continued declines in tech purchases (as we expected). We predict that the Q4 2009 data will show a small increase in buying activity, or at worst, just a small decline.'"
Quoting Soup is good food by the dead kennedys;
We're sorry
You'll just have to leave
Unemployment runs out after just six weeks
How does it feel to be a budget cut?
You're snipped
You no longer exist
Your number's been purged from our central computer
So we can rig the facts
And sweep you under the rug
See our chart? Unemployment's going down
If that ruins your life that's your problem
=====
I guess it's going up, depending on who's perspective you see it from.
An economic downturn only affects those who get laid off...
Or don't get bonuses, or don't get the resources/personnel/equipment they need, or entrepreneurs...
I wasn't affected by the recession until I was laid off, awesome how that works, eh? It's a boolean state, either you're employed and not feeling the effects, or you're not employed and can't get a new job at the same level as before, or do get one, but get picked out of far more applicants than before. At which point, your boolean downturn.effect() is reset to zero.
if it pays the bills and keeps me from being homeless...I would...and I'm sure the millions who are unemployed on the brink would agree with me.
The "real" (u-6) unemployment rate is about 17.5%, because the official rate only counts those looking for work. So even if 17.5% of all IT workers were laid off, 82.5% still have their jobs, so yes, it is the same for "most". I got axed along with a significant portion of my department (25%) in May when they decided to outsource a lot of that work to India, but rather than collect unemployment or bitch about it I started my own company. Head still above water...
I still cannot find the droids I am looking for...
Some people predict a second lag down. I won't be surprised if the article has been published in highest point of this year. Looking at VIX (scare factor) it could be the case.
This morning the bean counters at NPR were figuring it was closer to 19%. Gotta make it all look good to the public though don't we.
Much easier said if you were employed mid-year 2008 and remained so throughout the 'downturn'.
That 'downturn' hurt, bad. Being out of work for 6 months would have been nice, but there were weeks at a time when there were no tech related positions, and nobody was interested in hiring someone with "professional" work experience for even tasks such as menial labor or food service. Good luck finding work out of your general area, too: my observation has been that there are so many IT types out of work, most places aren't even bothering to interview non-locals. There are just too many qualified applicants to pick from locally.
(I suspect concern that I would "up and leave" at the drop of a hat/promise of decent employment.) It's been 2 years, and at this point, I suspect there's not an end in sight due to the extended sabbatical.
The most extravegant thing I've bought since around March 08 was the occasional six pack of beer - maybe every other month. So yeah, that's not a terribly "good position".
~/ssh slashdot.org ssh: connect to host slashdot.org port 22: too many beers
If you have an established career, then it's merely difficult (but not impossible) to find a good job these days. New grads have it worse than everyone else in this economy... not only do they have to compete with each other, but they also have to compete with hordes of other people who have years of experience and are clamoring for the same jobs as the grads because they are desperate. I was told that a degree would give me a huge advantage, only to graduate right in time for this huge recession. (or minor depression, depending on who you talk to) I blame the university for lying to me just as much as I blame myself for actually believing them. New grads can send out a million resumes for all the good it would do, and it's not going to make much of a difference if there's a huge glut of unemployed workers with real-world experience on the job market. It's easy to lose hope and stop trying after 6 months or more of no results. These days, employers have all the advantages and can afford to be choosy.
"It is a denial of justice not to stretch out a helping hand to the fallen; that is the common right of humanity."