• Investment World
• eWorld
• Catalyst
• Mentor
• Life
• Canvas
• Praxis
• Urban Pulse
• Brand Quest

L.N. Revathy

About 12 per cent of the IT companies and three per cent in the non-IT sector are said to have opened overseas operations. The offshore jobs are in the software engineering and programming positions, followed by network design and Web development works.

COIMBATORE, May 6

WHILE Indian information technology companies are optimistic about bagging offshore projects and have been recruiting students off campus during the current year, the job situation on the other side of the globe, particularly in the US, appears sticky.

A study conducted by the Information Technology Association of America (ITAA) suggests that failing a dramatic turnaround in the US economy, the recovery in the tech sector would continue to remain soft in 2003. The demand for tech workers is said to have touched an all-time low, with more positions being outsourced overseas. According to ITAA, companies have started moving more positions overseas. About 12 per cent of the IT companies and three per cent in the non-IT sector are said to have opened overseas operations. The offshore jobs are in the software engineering and programming positions, followed by network design and Web development works.

The ITAA's telephone survey of 400 hiring managers (selected at random) from the IT and non-IT companies revealed that the predicted demand for hiring IT workers was 4,93,000 positions, down from 1.6 million at the start of 2000 and less than one half of the predicted 1.1 million positions at the beginning of 2002.

Sixty seven per cent of those interviewed said that the hiring demand could stay the same or drop further over the next 12 months.

The association's annual survey placed the size of the US IT workforce at 10.3 million with hiring and termination, amounting to less than one per cent growth during the first quarter of 2003, with the workforce growing by 86,000 as compared to 97,000 in the fourth quarter of 2002.

That the firms have dramatically scaled down workforce could indicate that they are properly staffed to handle existing and new businesses, the study has observed.

ITAA is now reported to be closely monitoring increased offshore activity to see its impact on the US IT workers.

The other pointers in the study showed that but for 8 per cent of firms that had lowered the pay, a majority continued to compensate the workforce without any change over the last 12 months.

Pay cuts in IT companies in the coming months, however, has not been ruled out.

In 2002 , 91 per cent of the companies were able to meet and even exceed their hiring plans. For non-IT companies, both hiring and terminations were said to be down by 25 per cent during the same period.

Article E-Mail :: Comment :: Syndication

Stories in this Section
How outsourcing impacts US jobs — ITAA survey shows demand for IT workers at rock bottom

Copyright © 2003, The Hindu Business Line. Republication or redissemination of the contents of this screen are expressly prohibited without the written consent of The Hindu Business Line