June 12, 2002 (The Editor’s Desk is updated each business day.)

Slowdown in computer-services employment growth

Expansion of the Internet fueled demand for computer services as companies scrambled to develop Web sites and networks. Employment in computer and data-processing services grew at an annual rate of 13.6 percent from September 1995 to September 2000.

Employment in computer and data-processing services and selected components, Sept. 1995-2000 and Sept. 2000-2001 (seasonally adjusted)
[Chart data—TXT]

Then, between September 2000 and September 2001, the growth rate of employment in computer and data-processing services slowed to 3.6 percent. Information retrieval services and computer-related services, not elsewhere classified (n.e.c.), taken together formed one of computer services’ weakest segments during that year. 

Employment growth in those combined industries declined from 23.4 percent per year from September 1995 to September 2000 to 3.4 percent from September 2000 to September 2001. The growth of these two industries in the second half of the 1990s reflected the expansion of the Internet and concerns regarding Y2K. The successful weathering of the Y2K event and the beginning of the economic downturn contributed to the slowdown in demand for computer consultants and Internet services.

These data are products of the Current Employment Statistics program. For additional information, see Employment in business services: a year of unprecedented decline, by Rachel Krantz, Monthly Labor Review, April 2002.

Happy 10th Birthday, TED!

The very first issue of The Editor's Desk (TED) was posted on September 28, 1998. TED was the first online-only publication of the Bureau of Labor Statistics. For 10 years, BLS has been committed to posting a new TED article each business day, for a total of over 2,400 articles so far.

Find out more about the story of TED