Meanwhile, Eckhaus said, as automation cuts data center staffs, people are hesitant to enter the IT field.

And at the same time the workforce is shrinking, more and more IT workers are approaching retirement age. Nate Viall, a Des Moines-based recruiter who specializes in finding application developers for the IBM iSeries, said 20% of the candidates in his database have 25 years or more of IT experience -- more than triple the percentage in 1999.

"IT people are not working very far into their 60s," said Viall. "If they have reasonable financial stability, they are bailing out."

At the same time, IT manager Jamie Man, who heads the Indiana chapter of AFCOM, said his health care company, which he asked not to be identified, has found that younger workers aren't interested in working with older systems. "If they don't see a GUI interface, they just don't want to deal with it," said Man.