Why IT Jobs Are Never Coming Back

CIO - The combination of more automation, increased offshoring, and better global IT infrastructure has taken its toll on the U.S. IT profession, resulting in a net loss of 1.5 million corporate IT jobs over the last decade, according to recent research from IT consultancy and benchmarking provider The Hackett Group.

The barely bright side for the American IT worker is that the total number of annual job losses will diminish slightly in the coming years, down from a high of 311,000 last year to around 115,000 a year through 2014, according to Hackett which based its research on internal IT benchmarking data and publicly available labor numbers. The really bad news? It's unlikely that IT will contribute to new job creation in the foreseeable future. "To succeed over the next five years, companies need to understand how to reposition existing talent; jettison or rationalize current jobs that have no place in the leveraged organization; and source, develop and retain still others to fill the need for new skills, both offshore and in retained onshore staff," reads the Hackett report, which itself was written in part by offshore researchers according to co-author and Hackett Chief Research Officer Michel Jannsen.
CIO.com: Your study looks at the decline in IT job growth based on private and public data from corporate IT departments at billion-dollar-plus companies, but ignores the jobs eliminated by IT service providers. How much greater would the figures be if the likes of IBM or HP were included?

Janssen: It would be huge. If you look at HP or IBM, India is their either second or third largest geography [in terms of hiring]. They have mammoth offshore organizations.

CIO.com: If IT is unlikely to contribute to U.S. job creation in the foreseeable future, what does that mean for America's standing in the IT universe?

Padron: Everyone wants to be like IBM, which started the strategy of having the right resource in the right place at the right time. Companies are becoming truly global. At the same time, IT is becoming more utilitarian and more standardized. And broadband is making all of this easier to do. When you put all of those things together, there's inertia in terms of creating jobs in the U.S. The jobs that you used to think of hiring in large numbers-help desk, network management, data center operations, disaster recover, programming-all of those are going to migrate or have already migrated to places other than the U.S. There's no need to be local today. You can work on anyone's problems from anywhere.
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Offshore Atlantic wind farms providing jobs and new energy supply

According to the National Wildlife Federation media report, the Atlantic coast shows much promise in the advancing of offshore wind projects. Besides the proposal of six gigawatts (GW) of offshore wind projects along the coast — the equivalent of about five coal-fired power plants — Florida has a total of 40 GW of wind potential that can be added in the clean energy wave hype as well. Ultimately, the report reveals significant potential for the Atlantic Coast to help in the efforts of offshore wind energy, creating numerous jobs. Just one GW of wind-generated energy would create 800 permanent new jobs in addition to 20,700 direct job-years in manufacturing and installation. The potential job increase and the ability for wind energy to supply power to homes along the coast has government officials buzzing with wind energy plans.
The report continues its announcements by making the following key findings:

* Every state with significant offshore wind resources from Maine to Georgia has taken some steps forward on offshore wind.

* The Atlantic’s shallow water characteristics combined with excellent wind speed make it an ideal location for offshore wind farms.

* While the most extensive European study concluded that offshore wind farms do not appear to have long-term or large-scale ecological impacts, major data gaps for the Atlantic Ocean still exist and site-specific impacts need to be evaluated.

According to Tom Larson, Florida Energy Policy Manager for the Southern Alliance for Clean Energy:

“Florida’s offshore wind energy resource can provide clean energy, and green jobs, without the risk of a major catastrophe like an oil spill,” said Larson, “The National Wildlife Federation’s report reinforces the proposition that offshore wind energy is a safe, smart energy choice for our region.”

Curtis Fisher, the Offshore Wind Initiative Leader at the National Wildlife Federation, adds the following:

“984 offshore wind turbines are spinning right now in Europe and not one in the Atlantic. The six gigawatts of proposed Atlantic offshore wind projects are a great start, but we need a coordinated and comprehensive effort of government and the market to bring these and other projects over the finish line in a way that values the precious Atlantic Ocean ecosystem and its fish and wildlife resources. This new industry holds great potential to create jobs, cut pollution, and reduce our reliance on dirty fossil fuels.”

All information was provided by the National Wildlife Federation Report. Picture provided by geteconow.com.

Jobs created by Cumbria offshore wind farm

A total of 60 new technician jobs are being created by a new offshore wind farm off the coast of Cumbria.

It is envisaged all the new jobs at the Walney Offshore wind farm will be filled by local people.

Work began on the 52 turbine Walney One project in March.

The technicians will be responsible for the operation and maintenance of the turbines, and based in Barrow. The wind farm has already created about 100 local jobs.

The wind farm is expected to make its first contribution to the National Grid before Christmas.

It should generate power for more than 320,000 households - more than the whole of Cumbria.

More than 100 turbines make up the wind farm, situated 9.3 miles (15km) west of Barrow-in-Furness.

Danish company Dong Energy and SSE (Scottish and Southern Energy) are behind the project, which is being built in two stages, each consisting of 51 turbines.

A second wind farm is also being built about 6.2 miles (10km) off Walney Island, called The Ormonde Offshore Wind Farm.

It will have 30 turbines and is being built and operated by Vattenfall, a Swedish energy company.

Once both projects are complete, at the end of 2011, they will together produce enough renewable energy for about 445,000 households.
source: http://www.bbc.co.uk