February is shaping up to be another brutal month of job losses: The number of laid-off workers receiving unemployment benefits hit an all-time high of nearly 5million, and new jobless claims are at levels not seen since the early 1980s.
The Labor Department reported Thursday that the number of people receiving regular unemployment benefits rose by 170,000 to 4.99 million for the week that ended Feb. 7, the fourth straight week that continuing claims have hit a record.
The surge in joblessness has pushed those claims far above the 2.77 million people getting benefits a year ago. The number totals 6.54 million with the inclusion of an additional 1.5 million people who are getting extended benefits under a program passed by Congress last summer.
In the late 1990s, the dot-com bubble burst and there was a glut of information-technology professionals on the job market. Today things have changed dramatically. In fact, we are facing a shortage of IT professionals by 2012.
According to the Bureau of Labor Statistics, IT careers are five of the top 20 fastest-growing jobs in the United States through 2012.
Here are a few Web sites that serve up useful tips about attending a career fair.
