According to a benchmark study by Forrester Research and the Information Technology Association of America (ITAA), the United States tech industry continues to rebound from the 2001-2003 recession.
The groups said the study is based on 11 measures of IT demand, supply and the strength of U.S.-based IT providers.
“Until now, no one has been able to definitively answer the question, ‘How is the tech industry doing?'” Harris Miller, president of ITAA, said in a statement. “Although IT is one of the major drivers of the U.S. economy, no single comprehensive measure of the health of the sector existed in the same way that the U.S. Consumer Confidence report tracks consumer spending.”
Miller said the Forrester/ITAA Index indicates a stable industry that should be “attractive to IT customers and career planners alike.”
Forrester CEO George Colony said the first published data of the study indicates a “continuing saw-toothed pattern, which further supports Forrester’s findings that the tech economy is not yet in a period of strong steady growth.”
In the near term, Colony added, “Don’t weep for the U.S. tech sector, but don’t break out the champagne, either. Save it for 2008.”
Colony predicted both moderate increases and declines over the coming year in IT.
While the third quarter of this year is the first published index, Forrester compiled historical data to provide a baseline and reveal trends occurring after the low point of the recession in 2002. All 11 indices are weighed evenly in the overall index score, using a 2002 quarterly average of 100 points as the baseline.
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