IT optimism up, unemployment down

The Hudson employment index for IT workers rose to 112.1 in July, up 4 points from June and 11 points from May. Hudson's national index for July hit 108.4, up from 107.9 in June. According to the Labor Department, the unemployment rate for computer-related occupations dropped to 4.5% in Q2 2004 from 5.4% in Q2 2003.