June 2010 Report:
Unfortunately, during the month of May the IT job market in Connecticut slipped 5.1% from April. While employers in Financial Services continued to support the demand, Insurance and IT Services industries decreased their demand for IT workers. In the surrounding states, the IT job market continued its upward trend.
It is hard to say at this point whether or not this drop in IT demand is temporary. It seems likely as, according to the Bureau of Labor and Statistics, the unemployment rate in Connecticut finally decreased to 9.0% in April, down to the level last seen in January of this year. National unemployment levels have seen similar drops. See the complete New England statistics at: http://www.bls.gov/ro1/unempne.htm . Regional State Employment and Unemployment data for May 2010 is expected to be released on June 18, 2010 on the Bureau of Labor and Statistics website: http://www.bls.gov/lau/
After months of steady growth, a hint of shaky demand in the IT job market may not be surprising. According to Daniel W. Kennedy, senior economist at the Department of Labor, "Computer systems and design is particularly sensitive to the recession…" He goes on to note, "Jobs in this industry [professional, technical, and scientific services] are tied to other sectors, including financial services." Being that IT is a highly diversified sector, a drop of 5.1% may be the result of various economic changes last month and should not be assumed to be the start of a negative trend in IT, especially with a decreasing unemployment rate and surrounding states seeing continued IT growth.
The full Connecticut Economic Digest report, where Information services are forcasted to be slightly below 2009 levels and Professional, Scientific, and Technical Services are forcasted to be slighly above 2009 levels by 2011, can be viewed at: http://www1.ctdol.state.ct.us/lmi/digest/pdfs/cedjun10.pdf
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