Bangalore, Nov 19: The premier IT body in the US, Information Technology Association of America (ITAA), has said that not more than seven to nine per cent of all IT jobs would move out of the United States in the next 10-15 years. "Even the most optimistic people on outsourcing believe that not more than seven to nine per cent of all IT jobs will move out of the US. IT (all jobs) can't move outside the US, because there are many issues for IT," ITAA president Harris Miller told IT industry leaders at the Nasscom CEO forum here last night.
Pointing to the backlash in the US against outsourcing as a combination of politics and lack of awareness on the advantages of globalisation, he said continued unemployment of IT workers was also a cause for concern.
Asserting that the US IT industry was on the recovery path with growth projections at three to four per cent in the next one year, Miller said, however IT had not resulted in job gains to the American people.
"One piece that has been missing is job recovery, unemployment is six per cent and IT unemployment is above six per cent as compared to zero three years back," he said.
Quoting US Department of Commerce Statistics, Miller said IT spending in the period August to September 2003, was up by 15.4 per cent as against flat spending in the previous quarters.
Bureau Report