ITAA 2004 IT Workforce Study – Information Technology Association of America
Executive Summary
The Information Technology Association of America (ITAA) conducts an annual workforce survey to monitor, assess and communicate market conditions for IT employers and employees. The survey is based on telephone polling of 500 hiring managers, using a stratified random sample of companies across the U.S. Topics covered in the survey are:
? Size of the IT workforce
? Demand for IT workers
? Best background for IT employment
? Soft skills and other factors
? Employee retention
? Future sources of job growth
Major findings of this year?s survey are as follows:
? The overall size of the IT workforce has grown slightly from 2003 to 2004, from approximately 10.3 million workers to 10.5 million workers;
? Non-IT companies added the overwhelming majority of IT workers. Non-IT companies represent 79 percent of employment for IT workers;
? Regionally, the Northeast added the largest percentage (5 percent) of IT jobs. The West actually lost IT employment (seven-tenths of one percent);
? Programmers represent the largest single group of IT workers although programmer head count actually dropped slightly in the past year, down almost 30,000 jobs;
? The technical support and network system design categories saw the largest year to year increases in employment, both up five percent;
? While workforce size has increased, demand for IT workers continues to drop. Hiring managers indicated that they will seek to fill approximately 230,000 jobs this year compared to almost 500,000 last year;
? In terms of future demand, technical support scored the largest number of jobs with approximately 67,000, followed by network systems development and programming;
? Employers still put the hiring emphasis on a solid track record. The best background for IT jobs appears to be previous experience in a related field (46 percent) and a four-year college degree (41 percent) in a related field;
? In terms of adding value to the enterprise once on the job, hiring managers indicated that best methods for internal advancement included participation in formal on the job training (56 percent) and certification programs (55 percent). Seventy-one percent of
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survey respondents said certification or continuing education is either important or very important for advancement;
? Personality is a major plus. In the soft skills area, interpersonal skills drew the most votes from companies of all sizes?twice as important as project management or team building;
? Companies expect to hold their employees for 30 months, four months longer than the retention expectations measured in 2002;
? Retention strategies are very straightforward. Fifty percent of respondents said a good overall compensation plan is the most effective technique for keeping employees;
? Not surprising given current concerns over terrorism, critical infrastructure protection and homeland security, information security appears to be the area with the greatest IT job growth potential over the next three to five years.
Increased competition appears to be the rule for IT job seekers in 2004. While opportunities are available, employers appear to be taking an increasingly cautious approach to how work gets done. Several factors contribute to this outlook, including general economic conditions, enhanced productivity through cost cutting, the climbing cost of employee benefits, whether or not business growth objectives can be met without staffing increases, the economic efficiencies presented through global sourcing, and the extent to which new technologies or business models force new approaches to the marketplace.
Bottom line? Competitive pressure is an issue for employees and employers alike. To be successful IT workers must make themselves as valuable as possible to hiring companies. They must also make themselves the stewards of their own careers. Understanding the trends and directions shaping the IT workforce is one of the best ways to launch or sustain an information technology career.
