The IT labor shortage is real

Jason Hiner over at TechRepublic wrote a piece yesterday where he presented the results of the 2008 "IT Trends Survey" by the Society of Information Management. Despite perceptions fueled by the media, it appears that the budget allocated to offshore outsourcing accounts for between just 3 and 4 percent of IT budgets. This is dwarfed by the projected 2009 IT budget of 33.7 percent that is dedicated to internal staffers, or the 6.2 percent of the budget for domestic outsourced staffers.

Jerry Luftman, an IT professor and SIM director, points to the media for exaggerating the impact of IT outsourcing. Indeed, CIOs are saying that they have trouble finding enough candidates to fill open IT positions. Hiner notes that the bigger threat in the current economic climate is not outsourcing, but the lack of qualified candidates in the labor market. On the other hand, there is no question that abuse of the H-1B visa program appears to be rampant. What do you think? What is your opinion on this matter?

To read more about this story:
- check out this TechRepublic article

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