As the technology downturn accelerated in October 2000, WamNet Government Services Inc. in Herndon received some great news: It won a seven-year, $7 billion subcontract from Electronic Data Systems Corp. to help design, build and operate the Navy and Marine Corps intranet.

The only problem was that the 20-person company would have to hire more than 700 new employees, all with security clearances. That job is proving to be as much of a challenge as creating a secure intranet for the military. -Washington Post May 19

The following narratives have been written by individual state boards of nursing regarding the significant activities in their respective states related to the nursing shortage. These excerpts do not provide a comprehensive update of the nurse shortage in these states or nationwide. The information is simply intended to share information among Member Boards. -National Council of State Boards of Nursing

Unless corrective steps are taken, the shortage will become an unabashed crisis. The U.S. Department of Health and Human Services estimates that in 2020, 44 states, including Virginia, will have severe nursing shortages. A 21 percent shortage of full-time registered nurses is projected for the commonwealth by the year 2010. The figure is expected to increase to 36 percent by 2020. Sixty percent of registered nurses work in hospitals, which have the greatest vacancy needs.

Even in the short term, the shortage is affecting patients. The scarcity of nurses has already caused hospitals to close beds, reduce admissions and surgeries and divert patients from emergency rooms. Higher nurse-to-patient ratios are causing employees to feel burned out and dissatisfied with their jobs, according to the Journal of the American Medical Association.
-Virginia Business

India could be faced with a shortage of a quarter-million IT workers in five years unless there is reform in technical education, warns an IT industry association in the country. -ZDNet

Fruit growers say they are struggling to find workers to fill the plethora of jobs up for grabs in central Otago. They say the threat of war and a lack of young overseas visitors are to blame. In apple orchards there is an increasing fear many apples will be past their best before they are picked. Across central Otago hundreds of workers are needed for vineyards.
-nzoom.com

The facts presented at the meeting paint a discouraging picture. Fewer grade-school students demonstrate an interest in science and math; there has been a consistent decline in the number of science and engineering degrees awarded in the U.S.; and there is stiff international competition for the qualified optical technicians and engineers currently working in the field. -OP Reports