Building a Workforce for the Information Economy (2001) / Chapter Skim
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Appendix B: Estimating the Size of the IT Workforce
Appendix B: Estimating the Size of the IT Workforce
Pages 331-343
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From page 331... ...
Second, estimates depend on the data set used in the analysis and on the occupational categories in that data set used as a proxy for IT workers as defined by the analysts. Finally, estimates depend on whether the analyst focuses on the number of individuals employed, the number of individuals in the labor force (employed plus unemployed who are seeking work)
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From page 332... ...
Lindsay Lowell, 1999, "Core Occupations of the U.S. Information Technology Workforce," IT Workforce Data Project: Report 1 (New York: United Engineering Foundation, January)
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From page 333... ...
Category 2 positions in private, for-profit firms based on NWCET skills standards NRC staff Category 1 occupations 1,649,210 analysis, 1998 Occupational Category 1 occupations plus 2,170,780 Employment computer support specialists Survey and computer programmer aides All Category 1 and Category 2 5,308,000 occupations based on Digital Economy 2000 (2000) (see Table B.6)
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From page 334... ...
; Information Technology Association of America, 2000, Bridging the Gap: Information Technology Skills for a New Millennium (Arlington, Va.: ITAA, April) ; Department of Labor, Bureau of Labor Statistics, Occupational Employment Survey, 1998, and Current Population Survey, 1999, special tabulations.
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From page 335... ...
Lindsay Lowell, 1999, "Core Occupations of the U.S. Information Technology Workforce," IT Workforce Data Project: Report 1 (New York: United Engineering Foundation, January)
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From page 336... ...
This estimate uses the definition of Category 1 developed and used by ITAA and Ellis and Lowell. It includes computer systems analysts and scientists, computer programmers, and computer science teachers all discrete occupational categories in the CPS.
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From page 337... ...
(364,511) to the CPS estimate of the number of employed computer systems analysts and scientists, computer programmers, and computer science teachers.
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From page 338... ...
by the Bureau of Labor Statistics, estimated a total of 1,649,210 Category 1 IT workers in 1998. These individuals were employed as computer engineers, systems analysts, database administrators, programmers, computer science teachers, and all other computer scientists.4 4The committee believes it is likely that the OES figure underestimates the size of the IT workforce.
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From page 339... ...
As noted above, the Category 1 estimates developed by Capers Tones were focused narrowly on software occupations. Similarly, Tones defined Category 2 workers as including a limited range of support occupations (sales and marketing specialist, customer support representative, systems administrator, software librarian, and various process improvement, planning, and cost estimating specialists)
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From page 340... ...
In 2000, the Department of Commerce used the OES to derive a "middle range" estimate of Category 1 and Category 2 workers of about 5.3 million.5 In Table B.6, NRC staff have derived an estimate of the IT workforce using the occupational categories listed in the Commerce Department's Digital Economy 2000 report as applied to OES data. The range of OES occupations used by the Commerce Department to derive the broader estimate includes such diverse categories as engineering, mathematical, and natural sciences managers; electrical and electronic engineers; com5u.s.
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From page 341... ...
SOURCE: U.S. Department of Labor, Bureau of Labor Statistics, Occupational Employment Survey, 1998, special tabulations.
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From page 342... ...
However, while the OES categorization of IT-related jobs is more differentiated than that of the CPS, it still lacks currency and sufficiently fine granularity to match the range of today's IT jobs. Thus, the OES categories include many individuals who are not likely to be IT workers in the strictest sense, and they omit many who work in other dimensions of information technology, such as networking and applications.
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From page 343... ...
To its credit, the most recent ITAA survey explicitly includes a wide variety of Category 2 workers who are not captured systematically in any government data. The committee urges federal data collection efforts to obtain estimates based on similar occupational categories so that policymakers may have up-to-date data based on large-scale government surveys on which to base policy decisions.
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