9.4 Technologically Skilled Workforce

The US Department of Commerce estimates that 60% of today’s jobs require technology skills and the number is estimated to grow to 90% in the next 50 years.

The impact of the vigorous growth of technology in both “old” and “new” economy sectors can be seen in the changing nature of work. A 2001 US Department of Labor publication, Futurework Trends and Challenges for Work in the 21st Century, describes the New Economy as being "powered by technology, fueled by information, and driven by knowledge." It predicts an increasing need for higher education and higher skilled jobs and a reduction in lower skilled positions. Although not all jobs will require a college education, according to this study, the need for new skills in today’s workforce will increase as technological innovation offers new ways of doing old tasks. The report emphasizes that new and updated skills must include both cognitive/hard skills and communication/soft skills.

The demand for information technology workers continues. From January to September 2002, the net size of the US information technology workforce grew by 85,437 positions with the total US information technology workforce projected to reach 10 million by the end 2002. Tech support specialists continue to be the most often hired, with almost one-third of the total 440,282 information technology workers hired in 2002 in the tech support category. Web developers were next with 93,410 new hires.

A September 2002 survey update of the Information Technology Association of America’s annual nationwide workforce study, Bouncing Back, which surveys both IT and non-IT companies, highlights the importance of certifications in four critical skills categories: database development/administration, enterprise systems, programming/software engineering and technical writing.