How Obama Win Affects IT Staffing

Nov. 29, 2012 - PRLog -- As someone who has been in the IT consulting and staffing industry in the U.S. and Europe for over 24 years, I've been asked by many people about my thoughts on how the presidential election results will affect the IT staffing industry as well as small businesses.

My fear is that with a Democratic Senate, a Republican House and a Democratic president we will continue to see the same gridlock and failure to compromise that we have witnessed for the last four years. Failure to deal with the "fiscal cliff," our huge deficits and long-term entitlements will come at a price. If we don't, won't or are unable to, the markets will, and I fear they are running out of patience. If you're wondering what that means, take a look at what is going on in Europe as a preview.

As an executive at the InSource Group, IT staffing agency (http://www.insourcegroup.com/), I see two outcomes that are of concern. First, I think that there will continue to be a shortage of skilled IT talent because I don't believe that we will have meaningful immigration reform that will result in visas being stapled to the college diplomas of math, engineering and science students who have come to the U.S. for their degrees. They are unfortunately going back to their countries in record numbers and we are failing to graduate U.S. citizens in sufficient numbers to address the demand. IT employment services will have a difficult time finding IT talent. Consequently, firms will have a hard time to hire full-time or contract staff for IT and engineering positions.

Second, with the Affordable Health Care Act likely to remain the law, you will see an increasing reluctance for small business owners to hire full-time employees, especially with IT placement. They will be more likely to hire part-workers and restrict their hours to (30 hours or less) in order not to be subject to the health care mandate. This is a trend that will not bode well for business owners or their employees. Small business owners already face many challenges in running a business. The new health care act will add another layer of complexity for many of these businesses. Additionally, due to the length of the new law, experts are still discovering nuances that create uncertainty for business owners in the future. Depending on the business, the company's ability to hire may be greatly affected with the Affordable Health Care Act.

For more information, please visit http://www.insourcegroup.com

About the Author - About Jim Thompson, CEO, The InSource Group
Jim is responsible for all of The InSource Group's operations, including sales, IT staffing services, finance and administration of the company. Prior to joining The InSource Group, Jim served as Senior Vice President of HSM Equity Partners and as a consultant with various technology companies in the U.S. and Europe on acquisitions, operations and raising equity capital. Jim has more than 24 years of experience as a Sales Executive and General Manager with a variety of IT services and consulting organizations.