(source: imgur.com/8pOpe)
The second thing I've found really difficult is somehow engaging the other students whenever giving a presentation. A lot of the other students probably have a thousand things on their minds too, so getting their attention isn't exactly easy. And right now, I'm running into that difficulty again. How do you make a topic like the economic and employment impact of information technology interesting? Well, I ran into this nugget of info about the jobs IT creates. It seems pretty relevant:
- In 2011, IT workers earned $78,584 a year, 74 percent more than the
average worker ($45,230).
The source of that info is an article called "Just the Facts: The Economic Benefits of Information and Communications Technology" by Robert D. Atkinson and Luke A. Stewart. It can be found here: http://www2.itif.org/2013-tech-economy-memo.pdf. It mentions some other interesting things too, and I'll get to a few of those soon.
So when I hear about the average worker in a field earning $78,584 a year, I start to think about what job I'm going to get after graduating. Then I think that I'll be making that kind of money in that job. Then I start to feel like this:
(source: bretcontreras.com)
Then I come back to reality and realize I'll probably feel like this after graduation:
(Source: njscpa.org)
So anyway, it's at least nice to know those jobs are available. That article I cited earlier mentions that there are quite a few of those jobs out there and they are still being created. Here are a couple of points it brings up:
- Between 2001 and 2011, over 565,000 IT-related jobs were created (in all industries) in the U.S., an increase of 22.2 percent. IT jobs grew more than 95 times faster than employment as a whole, which grew by only 0.2 percent.
- Increased investments in IT actually lead to more, not less, job creation. U.S. corporations that invested more in IT expanded their workforces by 14 percent between 2006 and 2010, while the average increase of Fortune 500 firms that invested less in IT increased employment just 6 percent.
Reading stuff like this makes me a bit more hopeful about whatever job or career I may find myself in after graduation. Even if I don't work directly in IT, it's good to see jobs are actually being created so I don't have to compete relentlessly for, what in all likelihood will be, an entry level position.
It's also nice to think that one day I'll be paid for doing work, as opposed to paying someone else to do work like I'm doing right now in college. Seriously, has anyone else thought about that before?
I agree with your post on many levels. IT has become essential to the majority of companies. Many if not all jobs out there are either IT itself or IT-related. I think college students must be aware that regardless of their majors, they must have a good understanding and a certain level of shrewdness of IT in order to get a job in the future.
ReplyDeleteTriet Pham
It definitely helps leverage you as a prospect to potential employers to have some kind of background in IT, even if the field you're going into isn't heavily IT influenced. As rapidly as technology advances, it's hard to think you wouldn't put that experience to use at some point.
DeleteInteresting fact about the earning potential of IT graduates. I was all set on majoring in MIS until another professor made a comment in another class about how a lot of jobs in the MIS field are being outsourced. He stated that just a few years back, if he asked by show of hands the MIS majors, he was getting a lot more hands than in recent years. He said this is due to the fact that companies can pay much less for a worker in India with the same qualifications in comparison to his U.S counterpart. It was very discouraging to hear and caused me to promptly re-evaluate my decision to major in MIS. As a result I have decided to go into Finance focusing in Risk Management, but who is to say that technology will not advance to the point where those jobs have the potential to be outsourced as well. What is a student to do?
ReplyDeleteIf it keeps continuing like this, maybe the jobs of corporate officers like CEOs will be outsourced too. That also might get rid of the executive compensation problem.
DeleteBut in all seriousness, I wonder what specific jobs that applies too. I'm an operations and supply chain major so I'm not totally informed about how things exactly work in the MIS field. So does the outsourcing apply to jobs like programmers and analysts? Or does it apply to managers as well?
I knew the need for IT workers was growing but I was unaware of the profitability in the field. I assumed that IT was a flooded market from rapid influx of people going to school to be in the field. The demand must be outgrowing those pursuing the field. The average salary is also quite promising.
ReplyDeleteEven over a ten year period, one industry creating 565,000 new jobs is pretty impressive. I remember reading a little while ago, sometime during the peak of the recession and the unemployment rate frenzy, that quite a few companies were struggling to fill positions in the IT field. There just weren't enough qualified applicants. I'll see if I can find a link to verify that.
DeleteBut the IT field is pretty broad. I can name jobs like programmers, engineers (hardware and software), data entry, and tech support off the top of my head. And IT creates jobs in other areas too, like customer service and sales, but the focus is of course on the skilled jobs.
I think this post is a very relevant topic in our society today. The impact of technology on our jobs is only going to increase as technology progresses. I think as important as it is to think of the jobs we are losing but also ones we are gaining.
ReplyDeleteAnd the new technology we develop generally creates higher paying jobs, and creates jobs through complementary products and services. There's no doubt that it eliminates some jobs because of increased efficiency, but it provides a positive net economic benefit for society (if anyone remembers that term from our presentation).
ReplyDeleteI have lots of friends working in the IT industry and so I get to interact with them regarding IT sector. They tell me how the companies have been giving the IT wing very limited amount to work with. The have to take into account many future and unseen expenses, due to which they out source the jobs to other countries or else contract workers that costs them way cheaper than what they would pay if they hire a university graduate in the US.
ReplyDeleteThe government is trying to change the scenario by having strict laws for the companies that outsource jobs and this will force the companies to hire within the country.
Parth Patel
I like the picture with the teachers huddling to schedule the exams on the same day. Sometimes I really feel like that happens.
ReplyDeleteI do agree that jobs in information technology will never be scarce. With constant innovations in technology, there will always be a need for new talent; there will also always be a need for skilled workers in the field. I myself am not majoring in information technology, but if I could start over freshman year I would consider a minor in IT.
ReplyDeleteThank you for posting! This topic is very interesting.