The Recruiter

Primary concerns for IT voters

With the primaries underway, what better time to find out what IT workers want out of the 2008 election? That was the thinking behind CompTIA’s recent report, which surveyed 600 tech pros about their political concerns.

When it came to IT policy, most respondents supported free trade, viewing it as beneficial to the economy. Many IT pros also favored a more laissez-faire approach to the Internet and leaned toward individual responsibility for privacy.

That said, about 40 percent of those polled were in favor of the government offering stronger intellectual property protections, as well as more tax credits for training and certification.

Where do you stand on these issues? Cast your ballots here.

Posted by Anna M.

Economic forecast: Partly sunny with a chance of recession

The Labor Department made two announcements last week that paint a muddled picture of the economy's future.

First came the oh-so-sunny productivity report, which said worker productivity grew at a higher than expected 2.6 percent -- its fastest pace in two years. Labor costs slowed to 1.4 percent simultaneously, allaying fears that companies would have to raise prices to pay workers, and stoke inflationary fires as a result.

But then came the employment report to rain on everyone's parade. The Labor Department had taken a gamble, predicted 115,000 new jobs, and lost big when payroll actually fell by 4,000 jobs. It didn't make anyone feel better to note this was the first decline in August payrolls since 2003.

What does all this mean for the tech sector? Thankfully, not much. Yes, tech stocks took a dip on Friday, but that was more a reaction to company news rather than the reports. Plus, while the overall job trend was weak, other key indicators like average work week hours and hourly earnings stayed steady, boding well for job market security.

So deep breath, everyone -- no need to worry this quarter. And if your own experiences in the corporate jungle have given you any insight into these economic trends, share with us here!

Posted by Christy H.

U.S. regions getting hot for technology professionals

Good news for technology professionals in a number of regions around the country… In the NJ/PA area, where Yoh is headquartered, a new Technology Park is being built at Rowan University. The $500 million project is expected to house 25 to 70 new technology businesses and employ 1,500 to 2,500 workers. First buildings should open this fall.

In Arizona, the state has committed $100 million to Science Foundation Arizona, a non-profit group that wants to build a research-based economy in Arizona that spurs innovation and creates high-wage science, tech and engineering jobs.

Illinois has released data on the 20% growth rate in its technology exports abroad for 2006 – an increase of over $1 billion from 2005. That growth outpaced the national 10 % growth rate, according to the American Electronics Association.

Posted by Jim L.

Women and Tech

The outlook is good for women in the workforce today! The U.S. Census Bureau is reporting that the gap between men and women’s salaries is decreasing. In 2005, women made 81% as much as their male counterparts—which is an 18% increase since 1979. Also, the Bureau of Labor Statistics (BLS) found that some traditionally male-dominated occupations are seeing a rise in female workers. For example, the civil engineering occupation has seen a 196 percent increase in females.

Rachel Zupek, of CareerBuilder.com, wrote an interesting article entitled “The Gender Wars at Work.” She discusses the pay gap, and how the traditionally male-dominated industries are seeing more female workers. But the most interesting thing she discusses is that although the gap is closing, and more women are entering these jobs, the jobs that are being filled by women are often lower-paying.

In the article, Rachel includes data from PayScale.com and CBsalary.com, and lists the top 5 paying jobs for both male and female dominated jobs, as well as those not dominated by either sex. For you techies, IT Project Managers are listed as one of the top “not-dominated” jobs—with males making $82,000 and females $78,000. The percentage of females in this position is 32.

However, take a look at the top paying male dominated jobs—they’re all tech! Database Managers have the highest percentage of females—and its only 24%.

I’d be interested to hear your thoughts—why do you think that although women are making more and more advances in the workplace, are we still filling the lower-paying jobs? Why are the highest paying tech jobs dominated by males? What can be done to address this?

Posted by Christy H.