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In this issue: 4 Industry News |
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Check out Eagle’s Job Centre for the best in IT job opportunities and The Eagle Blog for our CEO’s views on the industry, business, and life! |
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Two years ago, in November 2007, the big news was IBM’s $5 Billion purchase of Cognos. There was a fair bit of M&A activity, with AOL being very active, Telus buying Emergis, Randstad buying Vedior to create the second largest staffing company in the world and DELL making a couple of acquisitions. Last year, in November 2008 the big news was the economic maelstrom that took the world by storm. There was some M&A activity with AT&T paying $944 Million for Centenial Communications and Fujitsu paid $575 Million to buy out Siemens from a joint venture. There were a number of other deals, involving such names as Oracle, Microsoft’s Razorfish, Intel, Amdocs, Satyam, Citrix and Perot Systems. There was plenty of news about layoffs and the general effects of the recession.
In November 2009 there is still a “hangover” from the recession, but the general mood is more optimistic, with most pundits looking towards a slow recovery in the first and second quarter next year. The US and Canadian employment figures were not good but economists predict a growth in US GDP, and Europe seems to be on a path to recovery. The law caught up with a couple of nasty “spammers” and October marked an unofficial 40th birthday for the internet. Adobe (680), Microsoft (800), and Rogers (900) all announced layoffs this month, and Right Management tell us that as many as 80% of employees may look to change job as the economy recovers! The CRTC turned down Globalive from becoming a potential wireless carrier for Canada and Intel “played nice” with arch-rival AMD.
The big news in M&A saw HP buying 3-Com for $2.7 Billion and Nortel continued to sell off its assets, this time its Metro Ethernet Networks business to Cienna for $769 Million. Google made a couple of strategic acquisitions, including a $750 million purchase of AdMob and Intel Capital continues to invest in companies.
Overall the mood in the market is optimistic, but there are still “bad things” happening so nobody is ready to say we are back to a normal world, or even that we will ever get back to where we were 18 months ago. The best we can say is that things are looking more positive, there are pockets of good things happening and general wisdom suggest a slow improvement through 2010. Fingers crossed!!!
IT JOB MARKET ACROSS CANADA – Mini Update
General Observations:
The slow recovery is happening… SLOWLY! The markets are rebounding a little, but we do see hiccups even there; however, the TSX is currently up around 11,600 which is close to the 52 week high. Many investors have seen some improvement in their portfolios over the last months, but most have not seen a return to the highs they had reached. All of which to say things are improving, but SLOWLY.
November did see a slight uptick in activity for Eagle over October, which had seen a slight increase over September. Having said that, we are starting to see people begin to wind down for the holiday period, and after the year we have all endured, everyone is ready for a break!
November saw Canada add 79,000 jobs and the unemployment rate improve by .1% to 8.5%; however, we have still lost 321,000 jobs since October last year. Most employers are still not having a problem finding the resources that they need and the value staffing companies bring in this kind of market is wading through the “many resumes” and being able to find the nuggets, thus saving clients’ time and non-productive energy.
The deficit is still a concern, at a projected $55.9 Billion, but the government is still promoting spending as a way to keep the recovery going. Provincial and municipal governments are starting to reduce their spending as they deal with their increased debt and lower tax base (provincial taxes lost through unemployment).
More Specifically:
The GTA (Greater Toronto Area) remains the hottest market for us. It is the largest market in Canada, has the most head offices and is the home of our financial sector. Indeed, the financial sector together with the telcos seem to be leading the IT recovery, and we have not yet seen governments increase their IT spending either at the Federal or Provincial levels; if anything, we are seeing less spending from governments.
Calgary is showing some signs of returning to life, but is certainly not the hot market that it was just a little more than a year ago. It is, however, probably the one beacon of light in Western Canada, where the other markets are still extremely slow. Of course, oil prices dropping $10 a barrel doesn’t help and nor does the relatively strong Canadian Dollar against the US Dollar (close to 95 cents). We need Calgary to get “hot” and perhaps the other markets will follow.
Ontario continues to suffer from the devastation to the manufacturing base, the downfall of the auto sector and a business unfriendly government. There is trepidation about what will happen with the introduction of HST, both Bill 139 and Bill 168 will hurt business and it will be some time before the full effects are known.
There is little change in the Federal Market in Ottawa. A minority government, a few scandals and some loud opposition to planned projects seems to have put a stop to any interesting large projects hitting the streets. Hopefully that will change in the New Year. The following are some facts/indicators we are watching as of time of writing:
- The price of oil has dropped down to around $72 a barrel – not so low as to affect existing projects, but not high enough to create a “boom”.
- Natural Gas prices hit a seven year low in September 2009, but have almost doubled again since that low. This should start to have a trickle effect on confidence in the “energy patch”.
- The TSX is in and around 11,600 – a positive sign.
- The Canadian dollar is strong, currently close to 95c US. Not always a good thing for Canadian business, but a positive economic indicator.
- Prime remains at 2.25%, making borrowing inexpensive. This is good for when companies feel optimistic enough to invest!
- November saw some positive news on the unemployment front, with Canada gaining 79,000 jobs and the unemployment rate improving to 8.5% nationally. Canada still has 321,000 less jobs than in October 2008.
- The Alberta government is forecasting a $7 Billion deficit, and announced government cuts to projects of $430 Million.
- Many sectors appear to be picking up activity. Banks, oil companies, and telcos all appear to be picking up steam.
- There have been few signs that any “stimulus” package will bring relief in the IT services sector. Hardware companies are benefiting from tax breaks but no big new IT services spending yet!
In Summary:
November saw the continued slow improvement in the economy generically. Some sectors and some geographies are coming back a little faster but generally things are still “in the doldrums”.
As we head into the holiday period, we expect people will take time to try and recharge their batteries. It will not be the most productive work period, but we know we need it! Hopefully it means that we will charge out of the gates and make 2010 a banner year.
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Eight Awesome Holiday Gifts for Canadian Tech Lovers
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7 Strategies to Recruit a Multicultural IT Staff
Over the past few years, the number of women and underrepresented minorities in IT has been dropping steadily. CIOs and other IT leaders can follow these simple steps to recruit and retain employees from these groups. More…
5 Breakthrough Technologies That Will Change the Way We Work and Play
Here’s a sneak peek at technologies that will come to life in the not so distant future. Let’s enter a world where speed and content (much of it video) will be paired consistently across mobile, laptop, desktop, and home-entertainment systems. More…
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Best and Worst Tech Gadgets for 2009
Read on for the 20 best products for 2009, as selected by BusinessWeek’s technology writers and editors, as well as five highly anticipated products that failed to meet expectations. More…
Finding Old World Charm Online
Instead of hitting the crowded malls this holiday season, why not shop for your loved ones curled up in flannel pajamas in front of a blazing fireplace with a mug of hot chocolate? And for a bit of variety, why not consider hand-crafted gifts from Europe, which are now easy to find and buy online?. More…
**The articles above have been sourced from a number of different websites and are provided for informational purposes only. Eagle has no control over the content of these articles and is not responsible for the accuracy of the information provided.
For a listing of Eagle’s latest job postings, please visit Eagle’s Job Centre. In addition to searching for the latest jobs, Eagle’s Job Centre gives you the ability to create your profile, update your profile, update your resume and search all jobs.
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For more information, please refer to our website or contact the National Eagle Staffing Solutions Team (NESST) at 1-866-78NESST (63778) or via email at NESST@eagleonline.com.
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