While the average unemployment rate for technology professionals is a mere 3.5 percent — significantly lower than the national average of 7.7 percent — the rates vary by job function. Among Web developers, it’s just 1.0 percent, whereas programmers will see a rate of around 6.3 percent. Meanwhile, there’s been a surge in technology-consulting positions, and women are grabbing a relatively high number of those new jobs.  Link>>