US IT industry confidence declines in first quarter

Beijing Time April 8 Noon news, according to foreign media reported today, the United States Computer Industry Association (hereinafter referred to as "CompTIA"), the latest report shows that the first quarter of this year, the U.S. IT industry confidence and hiring will both decline. The data comes from a survey of 336 senior US it executives in early March this year. CompTIA said the agency's "industry confidence index" rose 6.3 points in the fourth quarter of last year to 56.6, but fell back to 54 in the first quarter of this year.　　The index ranges from 0 to 100 points. However, CompTIA also noted that, despite a certain decline in confidence, companies still hold more optimistic expectations of the future business environment.　　For example, the survey shows that 53% of U.S. IT companies are planning to devote more resources to new products, research and development, and new markets. In the March survey, 30% of respondents said they would increase the number of employees in the next six months, with a planned layoff rate of 18%.　　The number of companies planning to increase their employees is 12% more than the planned layoffs, compared with 14% last December. The survey also showed that the respondents believed that the persistent weak economy, the stagnation of the economic recovery and depressed user demand is the most difficult problem at the moment. (Ding Macro)