Monday, October 12, 2009

MHT survey: Tech job openings expected to grow

By Rodney H. Brown

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Technology jobs may be on the rebound, as more respondents to a recent Mass High Tech survey said they would be adding employees soon, compared to respondents in the second quarter of 2009. According to the survey, 56.8 percent of the 861 companies surveyed said they would be adding staff, versus 51.9 percent in the second quarter.

In addition, the number of respondents who were anticipating job cuts in Q3 dropped to half of one percent, down from 1.8 percent in the second quarter of the year. The telecom sector reported no planned job cuts at all in Q3, down from 3 percent of telecom respondents saying their staff levels would decrease in the second quarter.

Biotech/med tech also had no respondents planning layoffs in Q3, down from 2.8 percent in Q2. The software sector was about even at 0.3 percent in Q3 and 0.4 percent in Q2. The Internet sector was the only one to see an increase on the number of potential job cuts, as the number of respondents saying layoffs would occur in Q3 ticked up to 1.1 percent from zero in Q2.

The overall confidence level of tech execs also climbed in Q3. Those reporting some level of confidence in the tech sector climbed from 79.3 percent of respondents in Q2 to 84.4 in Q3.