Worker shortage in IT industry means good news for grads

Graduates in the information technology sector have more job opportunities available today than five years ago, said Karen Fast, manager of the career centre.

“We really saw a flattening of that industry for a good five years,” she said. “It was really discouraging for a lot of people, so a lot of students didn’t go into the programs because they were afraid that the jobs weren’t there at the end. We’re certainly seeing a huge number of jobs coming through now.”

A report issued by the Conference Board of Canada last week said as many as 58,000 new jobs will open in the next year, while new graduates are down about 50 per cent from 2002.

Canada’s IT sector is facing a shortage of workers that will cost the economy $120,000 per year for each vacant position, says the report.

Nancy Rodrigues, associate dean of school of media studies and information technology, said the number of new students in IT programs has increased over the past two years.

“The publicity is changing from jobs going off-shore to there being jobs available,” she said.

“As parents and students are seeing more jobs available, more people are interested.”

Joe Tomona, associate dean of the school of applied technology, said the burst of the tech bubble and the fall of Nortel scared people away from IT fields.

“Coupled with that we have a booming economy where skilled trades and the government’s efforts to increase the skilled work force kind of gave people an idea and the government was great at marketing it,” he said. “So I’ve seen a decline in high tech and an increase in skilled trades in terms of enrolment.”

Despite the shortage of graduates, Tomona said they have not been pushing the school’s technology programs more.

“We have not been aggressively marketing. It hasn’t traditionally been in our style. But maybe a little bit wouldn’t hurt.”

Patrick O’Gorman, a spokesperson for the Ontario Ministry of Training, Colleges, and Universities, said the government has not focused on one area at the expense of any others.

“The ministry has had increased funding over the last year,” he said. “We are not taking away from one area to give to another.”

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