IT professionals have spent one-third more hours on the job this last year than they did the previous year, according to a report issued by Meta Group. Analysts and users attributed the rise to time spent learning new technologies and additional work from the increasing threat of new viruses.
"We don't want to say that we're at the dawn of the IT sweatshop, but we're getting there," noted Meta Group analysts.
Meta's study, based on an online survey of approximately 3000 IT managers and executives, reported that IT spending among US companies increased 8.7 per cent last year. As a result, the analysts explained, IT workers are spending more time on the job, learning new technologies in addition to doing their existing work.