Sounds pretty similar to what's happening in the UK. Things have definitely firmed up in the IT jobs market, especially in the last 3-6 months, but it's still subdued. There's a lot of consolidation going on at the moment in the financial services industry which is squeezing the market. Rates haven't picked up considerably in the last couple of years, although DBAs seem to be doing a little better than developers. One thing I've noticed is that many institutions are getting much more particular about the quality of their DBAs, most now thankfully pose a serious technical test before taking anyone on, and I've even seen job adverts stating that "wannabee DBA developers need not apply". Also on the plus side, the number of SQL Server jobs is definitely on the rise as more shops have turned to SQL Server instead of Oracle during the squeeze of the last few years. In summary, it's looking good if you're a decent, experienced SQL Server DBA, not quite so great if you're a developer.

As to spam - the industry knows who the major players are, it should be putting pressure on governments to punish the ISPs and carriers if they don't cut the scumbags off as soon as they're detected. Business costs should drive legislation that sees to this in the longer term, but it does need international co-operation.