When the 1,000 students graduating this spring from the Institute of Technology toss their caps into the air, many might have job offers before their tassels even hit the ground. A study published last week by the Information Technology Association of America, an industry trade group, indicated there is a major gap between the supply of qualified workers and labor demand within the information-technology industry. The study found that of the estimated 1.5 million information-technology jobs to be created in the United States this year, companies will only be able to fill about half of those positions. There is no question that the market is tremendously hot.
Information technology is one of the country's fastest growing industries.
Jobs in the field include computer programming, online services, software manufacturing and systems integration. The ITAA is a trade group based in Arlington, Va., representing the U.S. information-technology industry. Microsoft Corp., Oracle Corp. and DeVry are among the group's 11,000 corporate members. ITAA researchers based the study on 700 telephone interviews with managers from technology-heavy as well as more traditional companies. Pen Yew, University associate head of computer science, attributes the worker shortage to technology and communication revolutions.