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ComputerWorld ( 02/26/97 12:00:00 AM)



Survey shows huge lack of IT workers
Wylie Wong



About 191,000 jobs in information technology are unfilled in the U.S. because of a shortage of skilled IT workers, a new survey shows.

The Information Technology Association of America (ITAA) recently sampled 2,000 companies with more than 500 employees.

Results of the survey include the following:

One out of every 10 IT positions is unfilled at IT companies.

Eighty-two percent of midsize and large companies expect to increase the number of IT jobs.

Officials at 68% of IT companies said a lack of trained workers was a barrier to their companies' future ability to grow.
Amy Callahan, an ITAA vice president, said the organization's estimate of 191,000 vacant jobs was conservative. Because the dearth of skilled IT workers forces companies to scale back their growth plans, companies will make fewer profits and fewer technology innovations, ITAA officials said.
The survey shows that companies will outsource IT work to companies overseas as a partial solution and that salaries for current IT workers will skyrocket. Callahan said she hopes a national commission of industry leaders, government officials and educators will be created to explore the problem and identify where in the U.S. education system students should be taught about IT.

The commission would "analyze why there's a huge drop-off in students studying engineering, math and computer science," Callahan said. "What do we need to do? A public relations campaign for our industry?" Of the 2,000 companies surveyed, half were IT companies. Local, state and federal government agencies weren't surveyed and weren't part of the estimates.




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