October 23, 2002 (The Editor’s Desk is updated each business day.)

Most IT workers have college degrees

In 2001, most information technology workers—about two-thirds—had a bachelor’s or higher degree. Forty-eight percent of IT workers held a bachelor’s degree, while 18 percent also had a master’s or higher degree.

[Chart data—TXT]

The number of IT workers with some college but no degree is rapidly increasing; about 16 percent of IT workers were in this category in 2001. Anecdotal information suggests that many people attend community colleges not to earn degrees but to take computer-related courses in hopes of getting a job or to update their skills.

This information is from the Current Population Survey. For purposes of this article, IT workers are considered to be those employed in 12 computer-related occupations, including computer programmers, computer systems analysts, computer hardware engineers, and database administrators. Additional information is available from "Training for techies: Career preparation in information technology," by Roger Moncarz, Occupational Outlook Quarterly, Fall 2002.