High-Tech Hit Hard By Unemployment
The unemployment rate for U.S. engineering and computer occupations is rising at a faster pace than for other professional occupations, according to data released Friday by the Department of Labor's Bureau of Labor Statistics. An analysis of the data by IEE-USA, an organizational unit of the Institute of Electrical and Electronics Engineers, found the unemployment rate for all engineers grew from 2.9 percent in the fourth quarter of 2008 to 3.9 percent in the first quarter of 2009.
For computer occupations, the unemployment rate went from 3.3 percent to 5.4 percent including a jump from 1.9 percent to 4.2 percent for out of work software engineers and an increase of 5.7 percent from 3 percent for unemployed computer scientists and systems analysts. The quarter-to-quarter rate for all professional workers increased from 3 percent to 3.7 percent. Northwestern University professor Shane Greenstein said in an email that the data shows "the recession has started to shape employment in the parts of the economy where employment and wage growth had been strong." The recession has started to hit both sides of high-tech labor markets: the demand for workers in R&D and IT production (such as electrical engineers) as well as in information management and integration (such as computer managers), Greenstein said.
Information Technology and Innovation Foundation President Robert Atkinson said the numbers reflect that the "sectors most affected by the downturn tend to be ones that employ engineers and computer scientists." Durable goods manufacturing is more cyclical and employs more engineers and computer scientists, therefore there are higher unemployment numbers. He and Ralph Hellmann, a lobbyist for the Information Technology Industry Council, hung some hope on government investments in technology. "There is a general softening in the market for these types of jobs, but it could start to pick up as the stimulus bill is implemented and the various health IT, broadband, energy grid, and increased science funding programs get ramped up," Hellmann said. -- Winter Casey
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Economy
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