Elearning - June/July 2008 - (Page 16) Trendlines I.T. Employment Picks Up Against the backdrop of dismal trends in the broader job market, information technology (I.T.) employment surged in February. According to the National Association of Computer Consultant Businesses (NACCB), which tracks I.T. employment on a monthly basis, I.T. employment grew by more than 40,000 last month, a more than one percent (1.06%) month-over-month increase. On a year-over-year basis, I.T. employment grew 9.1 percent from February 2007. In February 2008, I.T. employment stood at nearly 3.9 million, an all-time high. “Despite the steady stream of negative economic news, including a disappointing report on the broader job market, demand for I.T. professionals remains extraordinarily robust,” notes Mark Roberts, CEO of the NACCB. “While I fully expected a favorable I.T. employment picture based on the positive anecdotal reports from our member companies, the strength of February’s I.T. employment numbers even surprised me. The robust I.T. employment picture should be heartening to executives in all industries. It reflects continuing corporate investment in I.T. as companies seek to maintain or improve their competitive position and reap the benefits of enhanced productivity.” The I.T. employment index is published by the National Association of Computer Consultant Businesses (NACCB), the national trade association representing I.T. staffing and solutions firms. High Potential for Virtual Worlds? I.T. EMPLOYMENT IN THE UNITED STATES 4.0 million 3.5 million 3.0 million 2.5 million 2.0 million 1.5 million 1.0 million 0.5 million 0 Feb. 07 May 07 Aug. 07 Nov. 07 Feb. 08 Source: Nat’l. Assn. of Computer Consultant Businesses 3.54 M 3.59 M 3.70 M 3.80 M 3.86 M In a report written by Dr. Eilif Trondsen of SRI Consulting Buisness Intelligence, the upside of using virtual worlds in corporate collaborative situations is extremely evident. An even 70 percent of those polled said that they “see significant potential to improve effectiveness and/or efficiency of collaborative work, for instance among virtual teams of distirbuted workers.” None of the 81 respondents said that they were very skeptical about virtual worlds. The rest of the votes were almost evenly split between respondents to the other two statements: 1 “The potential benefits are still very unclear and uncertain and it will likely take some time before we understand and know what the role of VWs will be in collaborative work.” (35.7%) “Major technology and/or worker attitude issues must be addressed before VWs will play much of a role in collaborative work in most organizations.” (34.3%) Almost two-thirds of the respondents (63.3%) were employees in an industrial or commercial company. Most of the remaining respondents (31.7%) were employees at an academic institution. Five percent were students. For the full report, visit the Website www.sricbi.com/news/VWCcollabwksurvey2008-03.pdf. 2 16 June/July Elearning! http://www.sricbi.com/news/VWCcollabwksurvey2008-03.pdf http://www.sricbi.com/news/VWCcollabwksurvey2008-03.pdf
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