Chicago IT Jobs to Grow

Posted on August 31, 2009

Chicago IT jobs could grow during the near future.

A recent report from IT Monitor, which surveys technology professionals throughout the country, found that the IT industry has stabilized and could soon see some growth. On top of that, the industry has seen a decrease in job cuts, proving that companies are doing better.

The survey found that only about 10 percent of large companies plan to reduce IT staff during the next six months, which is a decrease from the 17 percent of companies that planned to do so in February. The number of medium-sized companies planning to reduce IT staff decreased from 9 percent in April to 7 percent during August.

“It was a tough environment for a while, but now companies are authorizing more projects and looking better,” Mark Gambill, who compiles and studies the CDW data, said. “Small, medium and large companies alike all went up.”

The survey further found that during August 63 percent of companies said they were expecting better performance during the next six months, up from 40 percent during February.

Professionals say results in most areas of the country, including Chicago and its surrounding suburbs, are consistent with the national outlook. The report is based on an online survey of at least 1,000 IT decision makers from private and public companies throughout the country.

The growth of Chicago’s IT industry fits in with an improving overall local economy. During July, the Chicago-Naperville-Joliet area saw its unemployment rate decrease from 11.3 percent to 10.7 percent. However, that is still higher than the national unemployment rate of 9.4 percent.

And despite the declining unemployment rate, the Chicago area did continue to lose jobs last month. The area had a total non-farm employment of 3,697,500 workers during July, according to the United States Department of Labor Bureau of Labor Statistics. This is down from 3,715,500 workers during June and a 4.7 percent decrease from last year.