* Results of Spherion's first quarter IT Employment Report
The majority of IT workers in the United States were confident about their job security as 70% said it was unlikely that their jobs would be eliminated in the next 12 months, according to Spherion’s first quarter IT Employment Report. However, the percentage figure is 4% lower than the 74% of IT workers who felt the same way in the fourth quarter of 2005.
The job market is expected to see increased activity as the research found that almost half (48%) of the 571 IT workers polled in the first quarter of this year said they were likely to look for a new job. The percentage figure represents an increase from 39% in Q4 2005.
More IT pros interviewed said they believed there to be more jobs (28% of respondents in Q1 2006, compared to 25% in Q4, 2005), or the same amount of openings (33% Q1 2006 vs. 28% Q4 2005).
“Right now, it is clearly an employee’s market for IT workers,” said Brendan Courtney, senior vice president of Spherion Professional Services, in a statement. “A technology renaissance has intersected with a time in which aging boomers are exiting the workforce and moving into retirement.”
Spherion’s IT Employee Confidence Index rose 1.6 points from Q4 2005 to 57.1 in Q1 2006. The increase paralleled the rise in the overall U.S. Employee Confidence Index, which rose 1.5 points to 58.2 for the same period. The confidence index measures employees’ overall confidence in the economy, their employer and their ability to find other employment.
** CORRECTION: In the newsletter headlined “Do certifications carry as much weight as they used to?” I misrepresented the list of highest paying tech skills certifications. In its report, Foote Partners listed the high-paying certifications as grouped by certification provider. The full report (PDF) is here. I apologize for the confusion.
