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)