News & Analysis
Tech jobs expand, says pre-election report
Rick Merritt
10/25/2012 12:56 PM EDT
Education, R&D investments
The report claimed the tech industry was among last to feel the effects of growing unemployment after the 2008 recession, and one of the first to see job gains, albeit at a slow rate. It called for more federal investment in tech education and R&D, particularly in areas such as energy research and making permanent the R&D tax credit.
Comms services was the only tech sector to see a net jobs loss in the first six months of 2012.
“America can only realize the full promise of an innovation economy with smarter public policies focused on developing and attracting the best talent, investing in research and development, and growing and securing our information infrastructure,” TechAmerica Foundation President Jennifer Kerber said in releasing the jobs report.
“While the [jobs] growth has been modest, it is up and fairly consistent,” added Matthew Kazmierczak, the group's senior vice president. “With job growth in three of the four tech sectors, we remain optimistic about continued growth into the future."
The report claimed the tech industry was among last to feel the effects of growing unemployment after the 2008 recession, and one of the first to see job gains, albeit at a slow rate. It called for more federal investment in tech education and R&D, particularly in areas such as energy research and making permanent the R&D tax credit.
“America can only realize the full promise of an innovation economy with smarter public policies focused on developing and attracting the best talent, investing in research and development, and growing and securing our information infrastructure,” TechAmerica Foundation President Jennifer Kerber said in releasing the jobs report.
“While the [jobs] growth has been modest, it is up and fairly consistent,” added Matthew Kazmierczak, the group's senior vice president. “With job growth in three of the four tech sectors, we remain optimistic about continued growth into the future."
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rick.merritt
10/25/2012 3:25 PM EDT
I'd love to hear whether engineering jobs are up, down or flat at your shop.
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green_ee
10/26/2012 11:39 AM EDT
I cant name my employer (a major semiconductor firm), but external hiring of engineers is very limited, and there was a voluntary enhanced-severance program launched several weeks ago. There are external job-postings, but they aren't a 100% indication of actual hiring, because some of these are positions held by employees with an H1-B visa that are in the process of getting a labor certification.
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SylvieBarak
10/26/2012 3:41 PM EDT
It doesn't matter that there are more job openings... it matters if they are being filled. And if not, why not?
Sure, there does seem to be an increase in "tech jobs" in many places... and companies like Microsoft post thousands of job openings that they then complain they can't fill, but perhaps the underlying reason for that is that the salaries are too low, the locations are too clustered around major tech hubs, and the "wants" of the hiring managers are too high. There's a good discussion around more of the issues here: http://www.eetimes.com/electronics-blogs/other/4399345/Engineering-in-crisis--The-reasons-why
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