Recession Hits IT - IT Job Market Shrinks - 106,000 IT Pros are unemployed
AI and ML skilled IT Pros in High Demand and Short Supply
The job market for IT Pros took a turn for the worse with 106,000 unemployed in October – at the same time, there are almost 130K unfilled open requisitions for IT Professionals. In July there were 64K unemployed IT Pros, currently, there are 106K – a 65% increase. On the bright side, October showed an increase of 7,300 jobs despite a YTD loss of 9,300 jobs.
Latest YTD IT job market data - IT job Market Growth in Q1 2024 out performs Q1 2023
The BLS adjusted downward the number of jobs initially added in July (-4,200) and August (-13,400). That reduction by the BLS of 17,600 jobs erased the gains that were previously reported.
National Unemployment Rate versus IT Pros Unemployment Rate
In January the report from the BLS the National Unemployment Rate was 3.7% versus 5.5% for IT Professionals.
There currently are over 96,000 unemployed IT professionals and the unemployment rate for IT professionals is slightly better than the national unemployment rate.
BLS IT Job Market Size Adjustments - Prior Two Months
BLS adjusted up the number of jobs for IT Pros by 700 jobs for the prior two months
Artificial Intelligence and Machine Leaning Supply and Demand
Experienced Artificial Intelligence and Machine Learning IT Professionals are in high demand. Salaries for those professionals are well into the low six figures. Salaries for management positions with AI skills are in the $150K to $250K range. Experienced managers and developers are getting offers in the $125K to $165K range.
AI is slowing the growth of many entry-level positions within IT, especially in customer service, telecommunications, and hosting automation. CIOs and CFOs are looking to improve the productivity of IT by automating processes and reporting where possible. They are focusing on eliminating “non-essential” managers, staff, and services. Experienced coders and developers still have opportunities. The highest demand continues to be for AI, security professionals, programmers, and blockchain processing IT Pros. This in turn is reducing demand for many entry-level positions in IT.
AI is displacing some IT Pros and eliminating some entry-level positions as tools for AI are enhanced in ChatGPT, Natural language procession (NLP), TensorFlow (Google), Image Processing, PyTorch (Facebook), generative AI content creation, Midjourney, AI chatbot, Model tuning, and Sable Diffusion. (see https://itmanager.substack.com/p/it-pros-with-ai-skills-in-high-demand)
There continues to be a general belief there will be an economic downturn by many CIOs and CFOs. This is impacting all decisions around hiring new IT Pros and technology-related expenditures. This has impacted the salaries of IT Pros (2023 Mid-Year Salary Survey) with a major impact on the compensation of IT Executives.
Updated with the latest data
IT Job Market Forecast for CY 2023
According to the latest BLS data analyzed, there are now just under 4.19 million jobs for IT Professionals in the US. Layoffs at big tech companies continue to hurt overall IT hiring. CIOs are looking at a troubling economic climate and are evaluating the need for increased headcounts based on the technological requirements of their specific business operations.
IT Job Market Flat for FY 2024
There now are approximately 96K unemployed IT Professionals. The IT job market shrank by over 48,600 jobs in CY 2023. Overall that is a flattening of the long term growth rate pattern of IT job market.
Data complied and forecast updated by Janco Associates with data as of April 2024
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