Later this week, CEIR will post a video of Doug Ducate offering a synopsis of key findings from this year’s CEIR Index.
Doug will express the good and bad news from the 2009 Index, including surprising data on what sectors faired quite well in 2008. Here are some excerpts from the Index (and an example of the type of information the Index offers) on the top performing IT (Communications) sector, which grew by 9.8% in comparison to 2007:
• The Information Technology sector was hit hard by the downturn in 2001 and was The CEIR Index’s worst performing sector until 2005, when it began to grow once again. By 2008, IT was The Index’s best performing sector, growing 9.8% over 2007 levels, and has become a bright spot for the industry. Continuing into 2009, IT exhibitions will capitalize on positive market headwinds, as technology company earnings increased 2% in 2008.
• According to the Department of Labor’s Bureau of Labor Statistics (BLS), employment for the information technology sector declined slightly, from 3.0 million in 2007 to 2.9 million in 2008. The industry lost 20,000 jobs in December 2008. However, some Internet services gained employees, including companies that provide access to search and retrieve information. Additionally, online search engine companies and those that publish and/or broadcast content on the Internet have also been growing. The main components of this sub-sector are news syndicates, libraries, archives, exclusive Internet publishing and/or broadcasting, and Web search portals. From December 2007 to December 2008, this sub-sector increased from 129 million employees to 132 million employees.
• As the traditional side of the communications industry continues to transition to digital media content and information, it is likely that advertising in print media will continue to decrease in 2009 and into 2010, before it finds a bottom.
• NSF for the IT sector increased 8.2% in 2008, making it by far the best performing sector in The Index for the year. This gain in 2008 followed a 5.2% increase in 2007, after two consecutive years of decline. Some key insights into the performance of the IT sector in 2008:
• NSF for 61% of all IT shows was up in 2008, and 22% of these events posted 10+% gains.
• Computer-related events closely followed the overall sector, with 62% increasing, and 31% up significantly, by more than 10%.
• All communications-related events were up for the year.
• In Q1, 83% of events posted increases in NSF.
