The economic slowdown after the 2000-2001 recession was very much targeted at the Technology Sector. There was an obvious need to reduce the inefficiencies that built up because of the Dot Com bubble. Hiring and pay hit bottom around the middle of 2003. Many lessons and fundalmental shifts occured. One is the use of Open Source and another is using distributed resources (which has led to cloud computing). When you pair these shifts with reasonable compensation for skills you get a tech sector that is more robust and healthy.
Last Friday on Time.com there was an article about the staffing levels in the Technology sector. The article is called Tech Firms Fare Better Than Most in Jobs Slump and it is by BARBARA ORTUTAY. Here are a couple of excerpts:
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“Overall technology employment is
up in American and the wages associated with it are up,” said John
McCarthy, a vice president with Forrester Research.
Within the technology sector, software
vendors — whose products can help other companies automate processes and save
money in downturns — have held up particularly well so far, said Andrew
Bartels, a Forrester vice president. And large U.S.-based companies have been
able to offset weakness domestically with solid growth overseas.