The slowdown in the economy during 2008 won’t affect jobs growth in the IT sector, Irish IT industry executives believe.
According to a poll of 350 IT industry executives worldwide by global PR network Eurocom Worldwide, confidence for 2008 remains high, with over half (53pc) of the 350 senior executives surveyed in technology firms across global markets saying they were more confident about prospects in the IT sector in 2008 compared to 12 months ago. Some 12pc of respondents were based in Ireland.
Overall, 68pc of executives worldwide expect to increase jobs in their company over the next 12 months, up from 63pc last year. Just 6pc predicted a decline in employment in their firm, with 26pc saying job levels would remain the same. Some 88pc expect revenues to increase, compared with 91pc last year.
However, the respondents expressed concern that IT positions were hard to fill. The jobs most in demand remain software engineers, which 54pc find hard to recruit, followed by difficulties in recruiting international sales personnel and domestic sales people at 38pc and 34pc respectively.
“Our survey shows that across the technology industry confidence remains solid, in spite of the global credit crisis,” commented Ronnie Simpson of Simpson Financial & Technology PR (pictured), which helped conduct the survey for Eurocom Worldwide. “We asked about the upheaval in global financial markets caused by the sub-prime credit squeeze and just over a quarter (26.5pc) said it influenced their outlook for the year. Over half (54.5pc) said the crisis did not impact on their outlook.”
“Eurocom Worldwide’s IT Confidence Survey has been carried out for seven consecutive years now. Over time, the results show that the IT sector is successful at adjusting to global financial realities. Challenges such as credit fall-outs and global employment transfer may be real, yet technology companies continue to show business growth and jobs creation,” said Mads Christensen, network director, Eurocom Worldwide.
By Niall Byrne
