Are Employers Pulling Back on IT Hiring?

Computerworld: Is the IT job market still booming? It depends on whom you ask.

The TechServe Alliance says the IT industry added 15,500 jobs in May, resulting in employment 2.71 percent higher than in May 2011. “IT [employment] remains robust, without question,” said Mark Roberts, CEO of the TechServe Alliance. “Corporations are still investing in technology, and when you invest you need to have people to develop and maintain it.”

However, looking at the same U.S. Bureau of Labor Statistics (BLS) data, David Foote, CEO of staffing firm Foote Partners, came to the opposite conclusion. He said that the IT industry added a net 5,200 jobs, the third weak month in a row for IT hiring. “People are getting nervous, and at this point the trend is not to hire,” Foote added.

IT consultancy Janco Associates takes an even more pessimistic view, counting just 200 new IT jobs in May. According to Janco CEO Victor Janulaitis, a recent survey of IT executives found that most “do not see any increase in permanent staffing within the next few months.”