This spring, thousands of students graduated from high schools across the country. If a majority of those students decided to train for information technology (IT) jobs, they would still not fill all the positions available today, much less the positions that will be available in another four years.
In reality, only a small percentage of today`s high school graduates are likely to pursue IT careers. In fact, American colleges and universities have been graduating roughly 25,000 information technology majors per year since 1997 and that trend continues today. During that same period, the demand for IT professionals in the U.S. increased by one million workers and is growing at an average rate of 25 percent per year.
According to a recent study by META Group, the IT worker shortage is reaching record-and critical-levels. Demand for IT professionals is at an all-time high, and so are salaries. Currently, there are approximately 400,000 unfilled IT positions in the U.S., and the number of students graduating from U.S. colleges with computer and information systems degrees is far too low to meet current or future demand.
Why are students turning away from a booming industry that offers some of the highest starting salaries and best bonus structures of any industry in the country?
"The perception among prospective IT students is that an IT curriculum is exceptionally demanding, particularly as the IT workforce continues to seek employees with broad-based business skills as well," said Maria Schafer, program director for META Group Publications.
There is a disconnect between the type of IT employee that most organizations are seeking, and the type of IT student that most academic programs are producing, said Schafer. "The increased complexity of IT systems environments, coupled with the need for employees with business acumen, has produced a strain for academic institutions attempting to modify their IT curricula. The reality is that academic institutions just can`t keep up."
"The 1999 staffing survey indicates a major shift in the key skills required for IT personnel," said Schafer. "While technical skills remain important, our respondents indicate the need for business competence in areas such as project management and business modeling."
According to META Group, this shortage of workers in the U.S. has caused many companies to "import" talent from other countries. Workers come into this country under H1B visas, and the U.S. government has a cap of 60,000 of these visas to be issued each year. In 1998, after widespread lobbying, an additional 145,000 H1B visas were authorized for calendar year 1998, for a total of 205,000.
"That was an essential move," said Peter Burris, META Group`s vice president and co-research director. "The government usually allows businesses to deal with this issue on their own, but the IT field is so significant, it can`t be left alone. We`re already seeing the same thing happen this year-the previous cap of 60,000 H1B visas will probably be issued by month`s end, and we`re only halfway through the year."
Dallas-based Adea Inc., a provider of temporary IT professional staffing, has experienced the highest three-year growth rate in Dallas according to the Dallas Business Journal`s Fast Tech 50 ranking. According to Adea Vice President of Technical Staffing, Doug Ortega, the company places IT consultants on projects that typically last six months to a year and charges $60 to $150 an hour for consultants` time.
"A lot of companies are turning to us because they simply don`t have enough people on staff to meet critical deadlines," said Ortega. "We`ve had to get very creative and be very careful to find high-quality IT professionals to meet the tremendous demand. Right now, about 45 percent of our consultants are foreign nationals. The U.S. labor shortage has created a gold-rush mentality abroad. We have had to implement a rigorous screening process because we discovered foreign candidates falsifying their resumes in attempts to get jobs with us."
On a more hopeful note, there is reason to believe that the tide is beginning to turn. Howard A. Rubin, META Group research fellow and chair of the Department of Computer Science, Hunter College of CUNY, said the pipeline is beginning to fill again.
According to META Group, new positions and new skill sets, including those required for Internet-related activities such as Web development, are also driving the workforce shortage. Developing a web site that is attractive and inviting for electronic commerce requires a strong understanding of communications, as well as marketing. As companies look for those skills, they will need to expand recruitment efforts beyond traditional sources.
Schafer said the new skill sets should become part of the educational process at colleges and universities, business institutes and even the high school level; but, companies need to provide more timely training and development for existing employees as well.
