What could doom the IT recovery?

There have been some upbeat forecasts from CompTIA, Forrester Research and others about IT's recovery. Forrester has been predicting 6.6 percent growth this year, and ComptTIA has shown a spike in its confidence index among U.S.-based IT vendors. In addition, U.S. GDP, corporate profits and manufacturing have all shown upticks in the past six months.

All that is well and good, but unemployment remains very high, the national debt is soaring and credit remains tight. "Until these factors start to turn around, exuberance about an economic recovery will rightfully be tempered," CompTIA vice president Tim Herbert told InformationWeek.com.

InformationWeek .com vice president and Editor-in-Chief Rob Preston argues that without a more robust recovery, the appearance of a tech revival may be just an illusion and a short-lived phenomenon.

"The information technology industry isn't just a creator and enabler of economic growth; it leverages that growth like no other industry, as IT is embedded in every single business sector," wrote Preston. "So implicit in the bullish IT forecasts of CompTIA, Forrester, and others is this reality: Get the economy in order, or the IT recovery doesn't stand much of a chance."

For more on the IT economy:
- see this InformationWeek.com article

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