Disgruntled IT workers of America, rejoice. Silicon Valley's job engine may have stalled, IT departments may have suffered disproportionate job cuts in the last few years, but there are signs that the U.S. job market is finally looking up.
The Wall Street Journal noted this trend two weeks ago:
More U.S. workers quit their jobs than were laid off in March, the second month in a row this occurred and a sign of employees' growing confidence that more positions are becoming available in a slowly recovering job market.
Nearly 1.9 million employees quit in March compared with more than 1.8 million who were laid-off or discharged, the Labor Department said Tuesday. Meanwhile, the number of hires rose to a seasonally adjusted 4.2 million in March from 4 million in February.
The National Association of Colleges and Employers also reported that employers plan to hire more new college graduates, the first time in a year and a half employers have cite positive hiring news for entry-level workers. IT has already added at least 25,000 jobs this year, which is great news for the run-down workers in understaffed and undercompensated IT departments across the United States.
Although the job-creation numbers are good news, more interesting is the growing number of people who've chosen to take their chances in the job market instead of suffering in the name of job security. Today, the Wall Street Journal followed up on that data and reported that employers may see an increase in the number of people leaving for greener pastures. Right Management found that 60 percent of workers plan to leave their jobs once the market turns around.
A lead culprit for workers' plans to move on? The lingering effects of cost-cutting and downsizing. A workforce that's lived with higher workloads and no corresponding rise in wages is an unhappy one.
But all you dissatisfied workers out there, brush up on your certs. New job opportunities mean new types of jobs, which anyone looking for a different gig needs to keep in mind.
This article, "Employers, prepare for IT worker exodus," was originally published at InfoWorld.com. Get the first word on what the important tech news really means with the InfoWorld Tech Watch blog.