According to the National Association of Computer Consultant Businesses (NACCB), the national trade association representing IT staffing and solutions firms, IT staffers don’t have too much to worry about—as far as their jobs go, anyway.
The association, which tracks monthly IT employment, reported IT employment reached 3,907,000 in July, a record high. While the July gain was modest (2,800) from the previous month (following a small downward revision in June’s numbers), IT employment has turned in a strong performance over the past year. From July 2007 through the current month, IT employment is up 251,000, or 6.7%—far outpacing the general employment market.
“While IT has not been immune to the negative macroeconomic trends, it appears that a number of companies in IT and IT employment are outperforming the general economy. This is in stark contrast to the last major economic pullback where IT and IT employment dramatically underperformed the broader economy and job market,” commented Mark Roberts, CEO of NACCB.
Robert Half International, an IT staffing firm, is also witnessing this trend. According to a spokesperson, it is still difficult—even though the
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Methodology
NACCB’s IT Employment Index is the first specific measurement of IT employment. This unique measurement of total IT employment is created monthly by studying the ongoing staffing patterns of a dozen IT and computer related occupations in 16 industries and industry sectors employing significant numbers of IT workers including the manufacturing, wholesale and retail trade, financial, information services, business and professional services, and education and health industries.
The monthly IT Employment Index is based on U.S. Bureau of Labor Statistics (BLS) data, which is subject to monthly revisions, with concomitant revisions to the Index. The Index is also subject to annual revisions of BLS data. The IT Index was rebenchmarked in February 2008 with the publication of the BLS January 2008 employment report, reflecting significant revisions of employment data from the past several years.