Prepare for the worst. The Sept. 11 terrorist attacks and Hurricane Katrina reminded corporate chieftains that they must be ready to implement a systems recovery plan when disaster strikes. The latest government payroll stats suggest business leaders are adhering to that advice.

Payrolls among firms that offer disaster recovery and software installation services are the fastest growing in the IT industry, an analysis of the latest government statistics show. From November 2004 through November 2005, growth among IT services firms that includes those offerings rose 6.8%. That growth suggests that an increasing number of business execs fear what computer failures could do to their businesses. What business today can function without its information systems?

To put that job growth in perspective, overall payroll expansion among all IT services firms during that same period averaged 2.8%. IT services firms have the official moniker of computer systems design and related services, in the lingo of the Bureau of Labor Statistics. And, within that category are four subgroups that include programming, design, facilities management, and other-related services. Disaster recovery, along with software installation, falls into the "other" grouping.

The other computer-related services added 7,600 jobs in a year, and employs 118.800 people. Still, the size of that subgroup remains much smaller than custom computer programming (up 4.1% or 1,200 to 540,400) and design (up 0.2% or 1,200 to 489,500). The smallest of the four subgroups, facilities management, experienced a rise of 5.3% or 3,200 to 63,700.

Though specific numbers aren't available for each subgroup, overall IT services payroll growth in 2005 rose 2.7% to 1,206,200. All numbers for November and December are preliminary.