IT Services Employment Remains Strong

IT services firms employed 30,100 more Americans in September than they did a year earlier, the Labor Department reported Friday. That's 2.6% higher than the 1,161,100 employed by IT services firms in September 2004.

To put that number in perspective, overall employment growth this past year rose 1.6%. Demand by business for IT know-how remains high, creating the need for IT services firms to fatten payrolls.

But other segments of the IT industry looked more like the overall economy than IT services.

Employment among computer and peripheral equipment makers remained flat last month, at 215,000. But that's up 1.6% from 211,900 a year earlier.

And, employment at Internet service providers, search portals, and data processing, which includes software vendors, grew by 1,200 to 393,000 in September, up 1.4% from 387,600 a year earlier.

The higher employment levels at IT services firms vs. other sectors within the IT industry reflect the fact that businesses require expertise to fine tune and secure an IT infrastructure that's already in place.