Engineering Jobs Still Go Begging As Unemployment Persists

Under the headline “Labor Shortage Persists In Some Fields,” the Wall Street Journal (2/7, Light; subscription required) reports the number of people looking for jobs may number almost 14 million, but so far there are still four open computer engineering jobs at startup firm Gowalla Inc. of Austin. The company wants more programmers to add to a 27-member staff, but finding those people is difficult. CEO Josh Williams said, “Most people we want are employed somewhere already.” The scenario is repeated nationally by companies that want technical talent, and some end up hiring people with fewer qualifications than the company needs, or reworking their overall strategy. Gowalla, for instance, solved its problem by outsourcing development of an Android application. The Journal says other fields where companies find it difficult to hire the right talent include engineering, accounting, some types of consulting and marketing, sales, and some types of construction-related jobs. Finding engineers for IT-related companies is especially difficult, the Journal says.