Considering the lag time between business decisions and direct labor-market effects, we won't see much IT workforce reduction or jobs being outsourced this quarter, except perhaps those that are bankruptcy-related. But starting next year, thousands of permanent IT professionals will be incrementally cast off from employers large and small. Many will find new employment, join the ranks of the "partially employed" or return to school. This isn't a big deal, though, considering that the overall size of the U.S. IT workforce is approximately 4 million. Some independent consultants may suffer, but the diversified, global IT services vendors will suffer only minimally and will continue to hire to fill demand. Job losses overall will be industry-driven, surgical and well thought-out.