Communications of the ACM
Tech Employment and Consulting at Historic Highs, Government Says
Credit: TheAlternativePress.com
According to the U.S. Bureau of Labor Statistics, the IT unemployment rate has dipped to 2.7 percent, well below the nationwide average of 6.7 percent for all jobs. At the same time, IT consulting opportunities have been booming. The 2.7 percent IT unemployment rate recorded during the first quarter of 2014 compares to a rate of 3.5 percent in the year-earlier period, marking the lowest figure recorded since the economic recovery started. This is leading to an intense competition for IT workers.
Some of the most attractive IT job opportunities are in the fields of consulting, systems integration, and outsourcing services. Tech consulting, for example, has been setting multiple records in this recovery in terms of workforce size, weekly hours, and hourly earnings. According to the U.S. BLS, in the first quarter, tech consulting added 17,200 new positions, bringing the workforce to more than 1.7 million. The demand for IT skills has grown as organizations have sought greater big data analytics capabilities. There has also been the movement toward digital enterprises — meaning more external, internal, and hybrid cloud projects, mobility initiatives, and business process restructuring.
In order to attract tech skills in today's competitive environment, organizations need to support training and development. The next generation of data analysts and scientists may not only come out of university programs, but also from the ranks of existing IT and data management staffs. Organizations should also pursue new types of outsourcing strategies. Acquiring IT services no longer requires gigantic or even long-term contracts — through APIs and cloud services, needed functions and resources may be immediately available online. Finally, make your organization a great place to work: A culture that encourages innovation and new approaches will help keep and attract valuable talent.
From ZDNet
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