While the news in the general employment market in October was horrific, IT employment dipped only slightly, according to the National Association of Computer Consultant Businesses (NACCB), which tracks monthly IT employment.

With a slight dip of 3,000 jobs (.08%) in October, the association reported IT employment stood at 3,916,200. Even with the modest decline in October, IT employment has displayed surprising resilience during the year. From October 2007 through the current month, IT employment was still up 4.5 percent - far outpacing the general employment market. The broader job market continues to shed jobs at an alarming rate, losing 284,000 jobs in September (a significant upward revision) and an additional 240,000 jobs in October.

The contraction of IT employment in October was not surprising. Given all the turmoil in the economy and the devastating job losses in the general employment market in recent months, we are relieved that the decline in October was a modest one, commented Mark Roberts, CEO of NACCB. While the long-term growth prospects of IT employment remains very strong, I anticipate there will be significant challenges in the short-term and mid-term in light of the deteriorating macroeconomic picture, said Roberts.

The IT employment index is published by the National Association of Computer Consultant Businesses (NACCB), the national trade association representing IT staffing and solutions firms.