See "What global sourcing means for U.S. IT workers and for the U.S. economy", by Catherine L. Mann,
in Communications of the ACM, July, 2004.
According to the article:
"Meanwhile, U.S. IT jobs continue to move up the
IT skills ladder. Demand increases for workers with
the skills needed to design, customize, and utilize IT
applications, particularly in the lagging sectors and
among SMEs. Some of the transformation in types of
IT jobs in response to global sourcing of software can
be seen in detailed occupation data from the U.S.
Bureau of Labor Statistics. From 1999 to 2002 (last
available data), the number of "programming" jobs in
the U.S. earning on average $64,000 fell by some
71,000. But jobs held by application and system software
engineers earning on average $74,000 increased
by 115,000. Thus, even as it increases the number of
IT jobs, global sourcing of software and services
changes the nature of IT jobs, moving them up the
skills ladder and diffusing them throughout the U.S.
economy."
Slashdot Mirror
According to the article:
"Meanwhile, U.S. IT jobs continue to move up the IT skills ladder. Demand increases for workers with the skills needed to design, customize, and utilize IT applications, particularly in the lagging sectors and among SMEs. Some of the transformation in types of IT jobs in response to global sourcing of software can be seen in detailed occupation data from the U.S. Bureau of Labor Statistics. From 1999 to 2002 (last available data), the number of "programming" jobs in the U.S. earning on average $64,000 fell by some 71,000. But jobs held by application and system software engineers earning on average $74,000 increased by 115,000. Thus, even as it increases the number of IT jobs, global sourcing of software and services changes the nature of IT jobs, moving them up the skills ladder and diffusing them throughout the U.S. economy."