IT WORKER DEFICIT WORSENS The Information Technology Association of America says the gap between the number of vacant positions for computer programmers, systems analysts and computer scientists and engineers and the number of qualified workers has widened to a 10% shortfall -- 346,000 jobs are currently unfilled. "The problem has been getting much, much worse over the last year," says the CIO at CompUSA in Dallas. "It's harder to find people, and when you get them, they stay for much shorter periods." ITAA's president says companies must consider hiring graduates with other academic qualifications or certified skills in specific technologies. "The industry can't step back and say, 'we depend on our universities to solve the problem.' That's not working now, and it's not going to work in the future." (Information Week 19 Jan 98)