December 5th, 2008
Amid bleak job picture IT system design, consulting shines
The U.S. economy lost 533,000 jobs in November, but computer system designers and technology consultants are holding their own.
According to the Labor Department’s Bureau of Labor Statistics, the job picture stinks (see full report). The unemployment rate ticked up to 6.7 percent and the layoffs (AT&T, RealNetworks, Adobe among others) from corporate America keep coming. In fact, the only sector that’s not laying people off is the government with its unemployment rate of 2.4 percent.
Special Report: Recession and the IT economy
Here’s a closer look at the data and tech-related industries (click to enlarge all charts):
After that little bright spot for systems architects and consultants, the news gets worse. See:
And:
While those sectors noted above aren’t exactly doing well they are markedly better than other industries. For instance, the information industry had an unemployment rate of 5.2 percent in November compared to 12.7 percent for construction and 7 percent for manufacturing.
Larry Dignan is Editor in Chief of ZDNet and Editorial Director of ZDNet sister site TechRepublic. See his full profile and disclosure of his industry affiliations.
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