The Euro, Y2K, and the US software labor shortage

Estimates of unfilled software engineering, management and support jobs in the US range from 100,000 to more than 300,000. Projects addressing Y2K repairs and euro currency conversion could push the total shortfall to 600,000 jobs. Since there is no reasonable way of filling this many jobs, many companies are deferring substantial volumes of normal software development and maintenance work. The paper considers the size of the YK2 and euro problems in the US and discusses software occupations and specialties.