IT Services Firms Employ Fewer Workers
For the second straight month, employment dipped at IT services firms, signaling weakness in a sector that in the not-too-distant past showed the most strength among business-technology employers.
The loss of 600 jobs last month and 200 positions in February among companies offering computer systems design and related services was minute, yet they suggest the IT profession isn't immune to an economy some economists contend is in recession. American nonfarm businesses employed 80,000 fewer people in March than they did in February.
Till February, employment at IT services firms rose for 32 consecutive months. About six of 10 jobs at IT services firms are held by IT pros, with the rest made up of management, sales and support staffers.
According to its March employment report issued Friday, the federal Bureau of Labor Statistics reported that IT services firms employed some 1,390,700 workers, down from 1,391,300 in February. Still, IT services firms employed 51,800, or nearly 4 percent, more workers last month than they did a year earlier. Figures for February and March are preliminary, and could be adjusted.
The overall economy didn't fare as well. U.S. firms employed 536,000 fewer workers last month than they did a year earlier; that's nearly a 4 percent decline.
