An IT Great Depression?

Imran Peerhabi, a developer at Microsoft wrote a recent post contrasting IT hiring around 2009 in the midst of the Great Recession with hiring now he uses the example of UW Seattle noting that hiring at this moment is a fraction (20%) of what it was in one of the largest recessions in recent memory.

Obviously, this is just a single example, but all in all it seems to match my own experience since the end of my most recent contract. Once upon a time, simply putting my CV online and would cause my phone to blow up with opportunities. That's no longer the case, it feels like a ghost town out there.

And it appears that mine isn't an isolated experience, other developers and recruitment agents I know have all reported that the IT recruitment scene is far quiter than in the past. It's certainly causing me a measure of anxiety, and possibly something worth a little more investigating.

All in all I hope things aren't so bad that the term "Great Depression" is not an accurate one.