Confidence in Government IT Growth Sours, Survey Says

Confidence in IT growth expectations among state and federal governments decreased during the past three months, according to the most recent CDW IT Monitor, a bimonthly indicator that tracks the direction and momentum of the U.S. IT marketplace.

The decrease comes after a positive outlook among government IT decision-makers in October.

Overall, 81 percent of government IT professionals expect to purchase new hardware in the next six months, down 1 percentage point from October

In the same time period, 9 percent expect to hire additional IT staff compared to 14 percent in the last reporting cycle. Of that number, 10 percent of state IT departments expect to add staff, a five point decrease from the previous Monitor. Also at the state level, expectations for IT budget increases in the next six months held steady at 33 percent from the October reading.

The IT Growth Monitor, which measures anticipated IT investment, fell four points in the federal government sector to 69, the lowest reading of 2010.

Overall, the optimism is lower among IT professionals in the public sector than in the private sector, according to the report, which has been tracking IT sentiment in both sectors since the beginning of the recession in 2007.