Search News
For the Media
For media inquiries, call CWA Communications at 202-434-1168 or email comms@cwa-union.org. To read about CWA Members, Leadership or Industries, visit our About page.
High-Tech Workers Face On-Going Job Bust
High-technology workers in the United States are facing chronic unemployment and a serious jobs deficit, despite the economic recovery that economists say began three years ago.
That's the finding of "America's High-Tech Bust," a new report by the Center for Urban Economic Development at the University of Illinois, Chicago, commissioned by the Washington Alliance of Technology Workers, CWA Local 37083.
The report found that the U.S. high-tech economy lost 197,000 IT jobs during the nine-month recession and continued to lose an additional 206,000 jobs after the recession was declared ended November 2001 by the National Bureau of Economic Research.
Nik Theodore, director of the center and a co-author of the report, said some of the job losses were tied to the increase in offshore outsourcing as well as employers' uneasiness about the national economy.
The report found that high-tech workers have seen their jobless rates double over the past three years. In an analysis of six key regional high-tech labor markets, all but one showed continuing job loss for high tech workers.
For example, San Jose continued to lose more than 14,000 IT jobs after November 2001 and San Francisco lost 9,300. The unemployment rate for tech workers in both areas remains high, increasing from 1 percent in 1997 to more than 6 percent in 2002 in San Jose and from 1.3 percent to more than 8.8 percent over that same period in San Francisco, the analysis found.
Reviews of other labor markets - Boston, Chicago, Dallas, Seattle and Washington, D.C. - showed similar results, with only Washington, D.C. showing some job growth in the past year.
Marcus Courtney, president of Local 37083, noted that just a few years ago, the U.S. high-tech economy was the country's most dynamic sector and was being touted as the backbone of job creation as the nation moved away from manufacturing. "It is stunning to think that in every region of the country, we have fewer high-tech jobs today than we did three years ago. We must focus on exporting our products instead of our jobs to turn this critical situation around."
This report marks the first real look at the impact of the economic downturn on high-tech workers at a national level.
Even industry support groups like the Information Technology Association of America have reported that despite its previous rosy predictions, the IT job market was "off to a shaky start" as demand for new workers continues to drop.
That's the finding of "America's High-Tech Bust," a new report by the Center for Urban Economic Development at the University of Illinois, Chicago, commissioned by the Washington Alliance of Technology Workers, CWA Local 37083.
The report found that the U.S. high-tech economy lost 197,000 IT jobs during the nine-month recession and continued to lose an additional 206,000 jobs after the recession was declared ended November 2001 by the National Bureau of Economic Research.
Nik Theodore, director of the center and a co-author of the report, said some of the job losses were tied to the increase in offshore outsourcing as well as employers' uneasiness about the national economy.
The report found that high-tech workers have seen their jobless rates double over the past three years. In an analysis of six key regional high-tech labor markets, all but one showed continuing job loss for high tech workers.
For example, San Jose continued to lose more than 14,000 IT jobs after November 2001 and San Francisco lost 9,300. The unemployment rate for tech workers in both areas remains high, increasing from 1 percent in 1997 to more than 6 percent in 2002 in San Jose and from 1.3 percent to more than 8.8 percent over that same period in San Francisco, the analysis found.
Reviews of other labor markets - Boston, Chicago, Dallas, Seattle and Washington, D.C. - showed similar results, with only Washington, D.C. showing some job growth in the past year.
Marcus Courtney, president of Local 37083, noted that just a few years ago, the U.S. high-tech economy was the country's most dynamic sector and was being touted as the backbone of job creation as the nation moved away from manufacturing. "It is stunning to think that in every region of the country, we have fewer high-tech jobs today than we did three years ago. We must focus on exporting our products instead of our jobs to turn this critical situation around."
This report marks the first real look at the impact of the economic downturn on high-tech workers at a national level.
Even industry support groups like the Information Technology Association of America have reported that despite its previous rosy predictions, the IT job market was "off to a shaky start" as demand for new workers continues to drop.