IT Job Market Bounces Back in October
- 05 November, 2012 22:22
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The IT job market snapped back last month from disappointing September losses, which was the first down month for the tech sector since 2010.
"This October rebound in IT job creation is exactly what we predicted last month in our analysis of the September BLS jobs report," says David Foote, CEO at IT analyst firm Foote Partners, in a statement released over the weekend. BLS employment numbers report that the IT sector added 12,500 jobs in October versus September's where more than 1,700 IT jobs were lost.
"In September there was a lot of nervousness in the market place created by presidential campaign rhetoric about the end of the Bush era tax cuts in January. That, and normal end-of-the-year fiscal planning activity as the start of the final calendar quarter [October 1st] was approaching. This caused some hesitance as companies stepped back and rechecked their budgets and hiring plans," says Foote.
October, however, was a solid month, gaining more than 23 percent over the 2012 average of 9,600. "This was not just a reversal of September's dip but a big statement that demand for IT professionals is unquestioned," says Foote. "This is a strong and sustained trend that is impervious to the occasional market hiccup."
The two largest sectors of IT to see growth were management and technical consulting services, which added more than 4,500 jobs and computer systems design/related services, which added 6,600 jobs. October marked the 29th consecutive month of job growth in these two segments which combined, have added 291,200 new jobs to U.S. payrolls in 2012.
Telecommunications and Data Processing, Hosting and Related Services segments gained a smaller margin, 1,400 jobs, but still that is a major improvement over the 2012 average of 1,640 jobs lost per month. "I'm certain that we will also see strong IT numbers in November's employment report," says Foote.
Tech America last week released its report indicating similar signals. According to the trade association, the tech sector grew 3.3 percent in the first half of 2012, showing growth in three of the four areas that Tech America's tracks.
Rich Hein is a senior writer for CIO.com and covers IT careers. Follow everything from CIO.com on Twitter @CIOonline, on Facebook, and on Google +.
Read more about careers in CIO's Careers Drilldown.
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