The Chicago job market is picking up steam as many companies have started hiring for IT jobs in Chicago.

Recent polls of employers from job boards and staffing agencies demonstrate that IT jobs are in high demand, especially those who specialize in networking, security, virtualization, and database skills.

Case in point is the Dice Report which is released by Dice Holdings, the company that owns Dice.com, which is an IT job board.

From the 600 respondents around the U.S. who hire or recruit IT professionals polled, 71 percent expect to add more employees in the second half of the year than they did in the first. More than half of that 71 percent expect to hire 10 or more new IT staff members.

This is great news for the IT industry, which took a hit during the recession.

Another survy from the ITMonitor showed that found that 37 percent of IT decision makers at large companies expect to hire more IT staff in the rest of the year, which is up 11 percentage points from a year ago.

In addition, 29 percent of respondents in the U.S. government sector expect to add additional IT staff, up 9 percent from April.

According to Tek Systems’ annual report, temporary IT hiring has also increased. Twenty-nine percent of companies polled expect to add temporary IT workers this quarter, up from 23 percent last quarter. The survey included input from more than 1,000 CIOs and other IT decision makers in the U.S. and Canada.

Markets that are picking up steam include New York City and Boston and smaller markets such as Research Triangle Park, Chicago and Atlanta. The New York City job listings include a 24 percent increase year-on-year in IT positions open at Wall Street financial firms

Chicago IT jobs could grow during the near future.

A recent report from IT Monitor, which surveys technology professionals throughout the country, found that the IT industry has stabilized and could soon see some growth. On top of that, the industry has seen a decrease in job cuts, proving that companies are doing better.

The survey found that only about 10 percent of large companies plan to reduce IT staff during the next six months, which is a decrease from the 17 percent of companies that planned to do so in February. The number of medium-sized companies planning to reduce IT staff decreased from 9 percent in April to 7 percent during August.

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If you have a Chicago job - or are looking for one - it might be useful to know the city has set up its own YouTube channel.

Mayor Richard M. Daley and officials at Google Chicago teamed up to launch the channel. The channel will allow registered users to upload an unlimited quantity of content, which will be uploaded and maintained by ChicagoWorks.

The channel will offer a behind-the-scenes look at the Daley’s duties by highlighting courtesy visits from various heads of state, offering a personal tour of his City Hall office and learning about his travels in the United States and abroad. The channel also highlights various economic and jobs initiatives, such as the recent Green Office Challenge.

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