Deb Perelman

Bill Gates’ visit to Washington to lobby lawmakers for improved access to foreign workers March 12 appears to have gotten through to at least two Congressmen, who have each proposed significant H-1B increases. Late the day of Gates’ speech, a House Democrat on the Committee on Science and Technology, the one which Gates had addressed, […]

Beer maker Molson Brewing will cut nearly 400 IT, HR and finance jobs, the Associated Press reported Thursday. The jobs will be outsourced to Hewlett-Packard. Molson hopes that the cuts, impacting 4 percent of its global work force, will allow the company to save $250 million over three years. The cuts will come from all […]

What is considered “old” by employment standards these days seems younger every year. In industries such as IT this is especially apparent, as the stereotypical tech guru is rarely envisioned as being in the 50-plus set, yet statistics suggest that this would be a more accurate depiction of an IT professional. According to the AARP, […]

For years, IT professionals looking to increase their job security, expand their career horizons and potentially climb a couple pay grades have been told to take business courses or get an MBA, but the evidence to support these assertions has been little more than anecdotal. Now, however, a study published in the March issue of […]

After nearly a year of wrangling, Google’s long-sought acquisition of online ad delivery service DoubleClick was completed March 11. The $3.1 billion deal was completed within hours after the Europe Commission removed the final roadblock to the purchase with its approval. “Although it’s been nearly a year since we announced our intention to acquire DoubleClick […]

The annual list of H-1B visas continues to be dominated not by large U.S. tech companies, but by Indian outsourcing firms and U.S.-headquartered service providers that do the majority of their work in India. These are the findings of new data released by U.S. Citizenship and Immigration Services on March 10. Six of the top […]

Among the numerous perils of computer-facing work–including repetitive stress ailments such as postural syndrome, eye strain and tendonitis–carpal tunnel is the best known, as it has received the most press. During the personal computing boon of the 1990s, its frequency among white collar professionals was considered to be at epidemic levels. “At its height of […]

The likelihood of a recession increased substantially on Friday as new evidence of falling employment came to light. In the second consecutive monthly decline and the third straight slip for private-sector jobs, the Labor Department estimated on March 7 that the economy lost 63,000 jobs in January. The New York Times noted that “every time […]

There are a lot of reasons to check out the 2008 IT Skills and Salary Report from TechRepublic and Global Knowledge, which surveyed IT professionals on topics from job satisfaction to training. But the really exciting data is all about the money, and which certifications are associated with the biggest salaries. Not for the first […]

Feeling bad that your long hours, low pay and nonexistent recognition might all be part of an elaborate ploy to motivate you to work harder? Then you probably don’t want to read Vanity Fair’s just-launched Windfall Report, which tallies the 50 people who made the most “extras” last year. No, Oprah isn’t on it, nor […]

If the news stories are any indication, the U.S. economy has a rough road ahead of it in 2008. Due to the rippling effects of the credit crisis, mounting trade deficit, soaring oil prices and sobering employment numbers, the United States is expected to be tightening belts in the coming months. Observers have mixed views […]

How broken is the unemployment rate? Very, according to some observers. David Leonhardt, a New York Times columnist argues in his March 5 column that what was wrong with the unemployment rate when it was first measured by Carroll D. Wright in 1878–then a chief of the Massachusetts Bureau of Statistics of Labor with an […]