COVID-19 Costs 116,900 IT Pros jobs

The tide has turned and loss of jobs for IT Pros due to COVID has halted

Park City – UT– e-janco.com – Over 116,900  IT pros lost their jobs due to the COVID shut down in April and early May. For the year, that reduced the IT job market by 99,400 jobs. Janco has adjusted its forecast for the overall net new IT job to be created in 2020 to just over 35,000. Many of the CIOs and CFOs interviewed by Janco in the past few weeks feel that with the existing pace of reopening of the US, civil unrest, and the election, normal IT hiring will not resume until late in the fourth quarter of this year. However, IT Pros job losses, for the most part, are over.

The CEO of Janco Associates, Inc., Mr. M. Victor Janulaitis said, “Some of the first individuals being brought back as the US economy reopens are IT Pros. As a result, the IT Job market is beginning to stabilize. However, until the public feels they can go back to a normal lifestyle and all companies open their doors, hiring for new positions in IT will be non-existent. Also, the civil unrest will slow confidence by the general public, which in turn, will hinder corporate confidence. Also, It does not help that many retail organizations are evaluating if they will reopen at all in areas that were impacted by the civil unrest. A case in point is the mayor of Chicago “begging” Walmart to reopen retail outlets that were looted and/or burned down.” He added, “Several major companies are resuming existing operations but are holding back on any expansion until after the election in the fall.”

IT Job Market Change - February 2024

IT Job Market shrank by 200 jobs last month

YTD IT Job Market growth

Updated with the data from the BLS and Janco Associates Inc as of March 2024
Analysis shows that IT Job Market has shrunk by 48,600 jobs in 2023. In the first two month of 2024 the IT job market grew by 2,400.

Janulaitis said, “Work From Home (WFH) is the order of the day. IT professionals already have that capability in over 85% of all organizations that we have reviewed. CIOs are being tasked to have the capability quickly implemented with a robust WFH infrastructure that is not only operational but meets mandated compliance requirements.”

The CEO added, “In a series of conference calls with C-Level executives, hiring is only taking place for approved positions. Few, if any new development actives are in process. The use of video conferencing has reached record highs. The days of staff traveling for remote meetings are now reduced as businesses go back to “normal operations”. Tele-meetings are an everyday experience. We have even found where companies have to visit locations they are now utilizing services like Delta Private Jets instead of scheduled airlines.”

Unemployment Rate 4.3% for IT Pros Improves from 5.5%

Hiring Plans
Updated with the latest forecast - Read on...
Impact on the IT Job Market

The total IT job market is now over 3.54 million positions in the US. The number of telecommunications positions continues to erode as more of the functions are impacted by AI.

IT Job Market Segmentation
The size of the Data Processing, Hosting, and Related Services market has not grown as fast as the Computer systems design and related services portion of the overall IT Job Market

IT Job Market Growth Forecast
Latest YTD IT job market size - IT Job Market growth uncertain for CY 2024

Janulaitis said, “Janco has just updated its IT Infrastructure Policies to provide tools for CIO and IT Managers identify risks, protect people interacting with the business (both internally and externally), and provide ways for the business to continue to operate.” 

Read on IT Job Makrket

Janco is an international consulting firm that follows issues that concern CIOs and CFOs. The firm publishes a series of IT and business Infrastructure HandiGuides® and Templates including IT Infrastructure Policies and Procedures, Disaster Recovery/Business Continuity Template, Security Template, IT Job Descriptions, and its semi-annual IT Salary Survey.