If you look at the tasks performed by entry level staff from your first reference point 2001 changing back up tapes, checking log files, updating anti virus, building PC's and Laptops and first line support of a workforce where IT skills were at best patchy and hardware and software were less reliable.

A dozen years down the line back up tapes are largely gone, log analysis aggregation and reporting tools are now at a price point in range of most SME's, any commercial Anti Virus product now comes with a console and management is by exception, desktop virtualisation and deployment technologies mean builds are down to minutes with no intervention from the builder and largely speaking IT literacy has improved hugely over the last few years so are we able to achieve more with less staff?

The other thing likely to be impacting demand is the move from in-house IT, which required staff to look after a relatively small amount of infrastructure, to managed services where economies of scale mean that a lot of infrastructure can be supported by fairly small amount of IT staff.

So is it the work that has gone offshore or has it disappeared for other reasons?