IT unemployment at its lowest level in years

April 11 2005     Page 1 of 5

Just a few years ago, calling yourself a Java programmer was almost a license to print money and Marty Trujillo was happy to reap the benefits of his expertise. But the freelance programmer had less luck in 2004, often working at hourly rates well below what he used to make.

This year, he expected to get two or three weeks off after finishing a contract project at his last employer.

"But there was no break. I ended the last job on Friday and started the new one on Monday," says Trujillo, who was placed at his new gig at Automatic Data Processing Inc. by IT staffing firm Anteo Group LLC. The biggest kicker: His pay rates are much higher than a year ago.

Trujillo's experience is reflected in the fact that IT unemployment figures are at their lowest level since early 2001--offering the latest data point in a confusing and often contradictory picture of the health of the job and career outlook for IT professionals.

Unemployment among IT workers averaged 3.7% for the four quarters ended March 31, according to InformationWeek's analysis of the latest data from the U.S. Bureau of Labor Statistics. Average IT unemployment for the same four-quarter period a year earlier hit a post-boom high of 5.5%.

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