"The ITAA's study itself ought to be retooled, suggests Peter Cappelli, director of Wharton's Center for Human Resources. To Cappelli, the study's projected shortage stems from managers who set overly high expectations for job candidates and who are unwilling to cough up higher salaries for so-called qualified workers. "It's very misleading," says Cappelli, who analyzed the IT labor market in a paper published in 2000. "If I can't find a chef at the wage I like, it doesn't mean there's a shortage of chefs.""

Knowledge@Wharton - Debate over scarcity of IT workers