Group Reports Growth in Tech Jobs

Is the recession over? Does it feel over? It doesn't really matter all that much what the stock market is doing or what leading economic indicators say as long as the job market is still lousy.

Fortunately, though, a group called TechAmerica says that tech jobs actually picked up a bit in the first half of 2010... by 0.5 percent. But hey, a bump is a bump.

Considering that the year-over-year numbers from TechAmerica, which sounds like the name of a nerdy 1970s singing group (remember Up with People?), show a gain in hiring in 2010 versus a loss of jobs in 2009, things are looking better.

But they're not looking that much better.  Dig this quote from Chris Paoli's rcpmag.com story on this whole deal:

"'Though the tech industry was among the last to feel the effects of the economic downturn of 2008-2009, it was not immune to job loss and is only slowly showing signs of climbing out of it,' said Josh James, vice president for research and industry analysis at TechAmerica Foundation, in a press release. 'Tech employment as of June 2010 stood at 5.78 million, compared to 5.99 million in January 2009. So there is still a way to go before we've made up for lost jobs, and continued recovery is by no means certain.'"

Way to be a floater in the punch bowl there, Josh. Seriously, would it kill somebody to deliver good news without dropping in a heavy dose of caveats? Oh, well, a little good news is better than more bad news we suppose. And for about 30,000 people in the tech industry (according to TechAmerica), the recession "ended" in the first half of 2010. We like hearing that.

How worried are you about your job? If you're not working, how tough has finding a job been? Tell all to lpender@rcpmag.com.

Posted by Lee Pender on September 15, 2010 at 11:56 AM