August 6, 2001
 

		(Still) in the Money The Best Cities to Work In Career Facts Interactive Buyer's Guide to Graduate IT Programs The Fine Art of Negotiation Making Your Internship Program Pay Off Guest Column: Raymond von Dran Guest Column: John Davies Column: Above the Net Letters Online Only: Polaroid's John Puckett in the Spotlight Online Only: Your First & Worst Jobs Interactive Careers Toolkit Online Only: IT Job Descriptions NWC Survey Charts Salary Survey Data TechCareers Contest: Tell Us About Your First or Worst Job

1. Information technology (IT) employment currently accounts for approximately 7% of the nation's total workforce.

   -- Information Technology Association of America (ITAA, www.itaa.org)

   
   

2. There are more than 10.4 million people working in IT jobs at for-profit U.S. companies with more than 50 employees; that's 4% higher than the 10 million total IT employees of a year ago.

   -- Information Technology Association of America (ITAA, www.itaa.org)

   
   

3. Employers will attempt to fill more than 900,000 new IT jobs in 2001; that's down 44% from the 1.6 million new jobs that had been projected for 2000; still, total IT employment is expected to increase year to year.

   -- Information Technology Association of America (ITAA, www.itaa.org)

   
   

4. There are 305,835 non-IT companies in the U.S. with more than 50 employees, compared with 13,842 IT companies with more than 50 employees -- that is, there are 22 non-IT companies for every IT company in the U.S.

   -- Information Technology Association of America (ITAA, www.itaa.org)

   
   

5. Eighty-one percent of companies surveyed have more than one professional advancement level for each of the eight NWCET (Northwest Center for Emerging Technologies) categories; candidates in most career categories climb a career ladder with three or four nonsupervisory steps.

   -- Information Technology Association of America (ITAA, www.itaa.org)

   
   

6. Non-IT companies anticipate the need for 643,257 new IT workers this year, which is 303,000, or 45%, fewer than last year; IT companies foresee the need for 258,332 new IT workers this year, which is 122,500, or 41%, fewer than last year.

   -- Information Technology Association of America (ITAA, www.itaa.org)

   
   

7. Non-IT companies expect their IT workers to remain on staff an average of six months longer than their IT-company counterparts. Average acceptable tenure for the former is 36 months versus 30 months for the latter.

   -- Information Technology Association of America (ITAA, www.itaa.org)

   
   

8. Managers at IT companies ranked vendor certification 3.4 on a five-point scale measuring importance in hiring, and managers at non-IT companies ranked vendor certification 3.1; industry certifications scored 3.7 and 3.4, respectively.

   -- Information Technology Association of America (ITAA, www.itaa.org)

   
   

9. IT companies consider certifications at least as important as bachelor's degrees, while non-IT companies rank certifications slightly less important than bachelor's degrees.

   -- Information Technology Association of America (ITAA, www.itaa.org)

   
   

10. Non-IT companies will see 302,853 IT jobs go unfilled this year because of a lack of applicants with the requisite technical and nontechnical skills; IT companies anticipate a gap of 122,505. These numbers are down 51% and 47%, respectively, from 2000.

    -- Information Technology Association of America (ITAA, www.itaa.org)

    
    

11. Technical support remains the most in-demand job by IT and non-IT companies alike, accounting for 25% of all new positions, despite a 65% drop in demand over last year.

    -- Information Technology Association of America (ITAA, www.itaa.org)

    
    

12. Women receive fewer than 28% of computer science bachelor's degrees, down from a high of 37% in 1984. Computer science is the only field in which women's participation has decreased over time.

    -- American Association of University Women (AAUW, www.aauw.org)

    
    

13. Oregon, Georgia and Colorado top the list of states with the fastest growing cadre of core IT workers. Oregon is projected to triple its core IT work force from 1996 to 2006, while Georgia and Colorado are projected to double the size of their core IT work forces in that time.

    -- U.S. Department of Commerce

    
    

14. Two-thirds of all workers in core IT occupations hold a bachelor's degree or higher; 26% have less than a four-year degree and 6% have a high school diploma or less. Of those with degrees, 46% have IT degrees, minors or second majors; 46% have IT degrees in science or engineering.

    -- U.S. Department of Commerce

    
    

15. The computer and data-processing services industry employs the greatest number of IT workers: In 1996 CDPS companies employed 26.9% of all IT workers; by 2006 the CDPS industry is projected to employee 39.3%, or nearly two out of every five core IT workers.

    -- U.S. Department of Commerce

    
    

16. Most IT workers get their education from four-year colleges; other paths include degrees from two-year community colleges, special university/community college one-year programs designed to upgrade the skills of IT workers, private-sector certification programs, in-house training, computer user groups and Internet forums.

    -- U.S. Department of Commerce