Information-technology workers' confidence jumped to 56.8 in the third quarter for an increase of 5.1 points from the second quarter, according to the IT Employee Confidence Index conducted by Harris Interactive on behalf of Randstad Technologies and Technisource.
The confidence level among IT workers is the highest in comparison to all other sectors: health care, finance and accounting, manufacturing, administrative and clerical, and engineering.
"Technology workers were more optimistic about nearly all confidence measures this quarter, including the strength of the economy, the availability of jobs and overall employability," says Bob Dickey, executive vice president of technologies at Randstad U.S. "This is not surprising given the future outlook for this sector, which remains bright and encouraging. In fact, according to a recent TechServe Alliance report, from the first quarter to second quarter of 2012, the unemployment rate for computer hardware engineers went from 4.4 percent to 0.5 percent. Similarly, for software developers, the unemployment rate declined from 3.6 percent to 2.5 percent.
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"These are incredibly low unemployment rates and reflect the market's greater hiring demand for these skill sets. Also contributing to a healthy outlook for this sector is the high demand for cloud computing skills and experience. According to Wanted Analytics, August had more than 10,000 online IT job ads requiring cloud computing training, experience or knowledge — an increase of 80 percent compared to August 2011. With ongoing technological advancements in cloud computing and others, the IT sector is well-positioned for growth in 2013 and beyond — a sentiment reflected by IT workers' overall confidence measures."
The survey also finds that confidence among respondents grew 10 percentage points in the third quarter as 33 percent say the economy is gaining strength while another 33 percent say is unchanged, and 34 percent believe it is weakening. Twenty-seven percent of respondents report a greater number of available IT jobs in the third quarter, an increase from 19 percent in the second quarter, and 48 percent of respondents say fewer IT jobs are open.
Most respondents are confident they can find new jobs at 55 percent, marking an 11 percentage point increase from the second quarter. Only 21 percent of respondents say they are not confident they can find new positions in this quarter.
When it comes to job security, 69 percent of respondents say they are unlikely to lose their jobs over the next year while 15 percent of respondents believe they will become unemployment within the next 12 months. The job pool of IT workers is expected to be greater as 34 percent of respondents report that they are likely to look for new positions next year, a gain from 29 percent in the second quarter.
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