Briefs

EarthWeb (12/24/02); Gaudin, Sharon

Although U.S. firms laid off 500,000 tech workers in 2002, a new study from the Information Technology Association of America predicts that 1.1 million tech workers will be hired back in 2003. After two consecutive years of falling numbers, the size of the IT workforce ended 2002 at 9.9 million, down from 10.4 million at the end of 2001. ITAA also says that IT firms laid off more tech employees than non-IT firms, while IT workers were more likely to lose their jobs in 2002 than non-IT workers; job losses were equally distributed across all U.S. regions. Technical support staff are usually the last to be fired and the first to be hired, while programmers are the most widely held tech position, according to ITAA's study, "Bouncing Back: Jobs, Skills and the Continuing Demand for IT Workers."

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