Large, global companies have eliminated 300,000 IT jobs in 2009, according to the consultancy Hackett Group. Back-office jobs in general fell 630,000 -- three times the average annual job loss from 2000 to 2007. The firm doesn't expect 2010 to see a turnaround for such positions, and instead forecasts an "extended jobless recovery."
Reasons include the lack of economic growth, deep cuts in response to budget pressures, improvements in productivity and automation, and the increased use of offshore labor resources.
[ Check out available IT jobs at InfoWorld's IT jobs service. ]
In the longer term, Hackett's research estimates that nearly 2 million IT jobs in North America and Europe will have been eliminated between 2000 and 2014. That makes IT the largest back-office segment to lose jobs. The firm advises companies to use automation and offshoring, rather than hiring locally, to continue to keep back-office staff costs down due to the projected long-term economic slowdown.
Hackett's figures are based on a survey of 4,000 global companies, all with more than $1 billion in revenue. Back-office jobs include IT, administration, HR, finance, and procurement.
This article, "IT takes biggest job-cut hit in the back office," was originally published at InfoWorld.com. Follow the latest developments in IT employment trends at InfoWorld.com, and check out available IT jobs at InfoWorld's IT jobs service.
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1 reply
More information would be helpful because this raises questions.
During the 14 year span (a long time!) when were these 2 million jobs lost? Were most of them lost in 2001? (I would say 2 million is low for that year.) What % of the total is projected into 2010-14, years that haven't happened yet? On what basis would jobs be lost in the future, and how realistic is this? Is the rate of loss steady (no, because 300k per year = 4.2M jobs lost in 14 years, so why is 2009 significantly higher than usual? Which years were lower?)
Why is the government's BLS information so horribly wrong? They project growth in IT. Flawed methodology? People lying on surveys? How could the government get it so wrong?
Have any new IT jobs ever been added since 2000? What happened to SARBOX, HIPAA, electronic medical records, etc? All of this is being outsourced to other countries now?
How many total IT jobs are there according to this report? What % of them is 2 million?
Why aren't technical schools like ITT, DeVry, etc going out of business, or at least canceling their IT programs? Why would anyone be in these programs if the jobs are disappearing and IT workers are no longer necessary?
Why is IT lumped in with HR?
Does the projection of an extended, jobless recovery for IT workers just count large corporations, or is this a general projection?
Why is it that Hackett "advises companies to use automation and offshoring"? Do they have a financial stake in their own advice?
Why don't reporters ever ask interesting questions and supply more contextual information instead of just printing press releases as news?