IT job market grows in Westchester

Demand for information technology workers continued to rise in the first quarter of this year among employers in Westchester County and outpaced overall labor market growth, according to Pace University analysts.

The Pace SkillProof IT Index, a quarterly tracking of IT job openings at major companies in Manhattan and Westchester, rose 31 percent from the fourth quarter of 2010 and 74 percent from last year”™s first quarter.

Westchester companies were more active with job postings than were major firms in Manhattan, where the first-quarter index was about 1 percent higher than the previous quarter and 49 percent higher than a year ago.

Among 11 IT job categories that comprise the index, systems analysts were in greatest demand in Westchester through the first three months of 2011, with openings jumping by 130 percent.

Demand for computer support specialists rose by 94 percent. Job openings for computer scientists and for systems research and software engineers each increased 37 percent from the previous quarter.

On the down side, demand for IT managers fell 28 percent.