IT Trends:

Employment at an All-Time High

“IT employment has surpassed its previous all-time high—an encouraging sign not only for the IT services industry, but the economy at-large,” stated Mark Roberts, CEO of TechServe Alliance. “Given strong demand for IT talent, high wages these professionals command and the benefits of IT to the broader economy, policymakers should do all they can to create an environment which encourages such work to be performed in the United States,” added Roberts.

TechServe Alliance reports that IT jobs reached the high at 4,107,700 adding 13,300 jobs in January, a monthly record that surpasses the previous all-time high set in September 2008 when IT employment reached 4,088,600. According to revised BLS numbers, IT employment grew by 3.4% in 2011 (compared to 1.5% in 2010).

Forrester Research reports that U.S. companies are choosing to invest in technology, translating to additional hiring by US tech vendors, especially software and IT services companies. While tech is having a positive impact overall on employment, there are at times a shortage of qualified candidates, a recruiting challenge for software and IT services companies.

U.S. tech market was weaker in 2011 than anticipated, and 2012 is thought to be about the same with forecasts for growth in IT goods at 6.8% and services by 6.6% annually; contrast that however with the general GDP, and the growth looks good. Other slower growth sectors are predicted to be hardware and telecom services vendors. Software is predicted to be up slightly, IT consulting and systems integration vendors should have above-average growth, and cloud and smart computing solution vendors are anticipated to outperform.

The CompStudy survey meanwhile shows that executive compensation has remained flat through 2011 among privately-held life sciences companies. Privately-held technology sector companies however saw increases in salary.

The CompStudy survey highlights the mean base salaries of Technology CEOs by sector in 2011:

Software: $204,800
Communications: $211,700
Hardware/Semiconductors: $197,900
IT Services/Consulting: $234,500
Digital Media/Content/Information: $203,200
Cleantech: $215,600