Tech jobs hold up as unemployment rate rises

This was originally posted on ZDNet's Between the Lines.

As expected, the Department of Labor's February jobs report Friday was a train wreck. The economy lost 651,000 jobs in February, the unemployment rate ticked up to 8.1 percent, and the Bureau of Labor Statistics revised December and January job counts sharply. But the information technology industry's job picture looks decidedly better in some areas.

It's hard to find a few bright spots when 651,000, 681,000, and 655,000 jobs were lost in February, January, and December, respectively. However, the data indicates that there are more computer systems design and consulting services gigs than a year ago. There are also more communications equipment manufacturing jobs than a year ago.

Other areas in the tech industry lost jobs, but it clearly could have been worse. Here are the Bureau of Labor Statistics' release and PDF tables. My excerpt of those tables along with my notes are below (click to enlarge):

Also see:
• CBSNews.com: Unemployment Hits 25-Year High
• CBSNews.com: layoffs by industry graphic

(Credit: Adaptation of Bureau of Labor Statistics chart by ZDNet's Larry Dignan)

[kenyee]

That's because a lot of tech jobs were slashed way back in the 2001 dot.bomb. Other industries kept expanding or weren't affected.

Tech jobs are still getting affected though, so just wait a few more months :-P

[someguy999]

We'll see if the outsourcing "in-the-cloud" model will work becuase in theory if my mail server is managed by someone else, I don't need an IT person for my datacenter or a mail administrator or ... all jobs I can reduce down.

[Commander_Spock]

Re: "We'll see if the outsourcing "in-the-cloud" model will work because in theory if my mail server is managed by someone else"

Why in the world would people in their right senses would wish for their company's "sensitive" data to be stored on someone else's servers and not on their own. Just imagine if those companies' servers on which your information is stored decides to hold your company's data ransom; or, goes out of business in short notice... - then your data is 'toast"!

[lisapofpaydayloans]

Unemployment this days is a clear manifestation of the great Economic crisis we are facing. One of the many economic indicators that people like to tout to show you how good or bad things are is the Economic Stress Index, or the relative amount of stress that people feel about the economy in their area. The Economic Stress Index is still high which is high stress, but it is starting to dip. The unemployment rate is also starting to trend downward, in that fewer people are being laid off, but not everyone is hiring. Credit card lenders and mortgage lenders, however will be playing it safe, so despite the leveling off of the <a rev="vote for" title="New Poll Shows that Debt Relief is On The Way" href="http://personalmoneystore.com/moneyblog/2009/10/06/poll-shows-debt-relief/ ">Economic Stress Index</a>, the credit industry is still in need of debt relief.