IT Job Market and US National Employment Data
IT job market prospects are tied to overall US national employment -- Janco reports IT Job market with an increase in the IT Job Market size by 4,300 in the past three months and 9,300 YTD
4.2 million individuals are employed as IT Pros in the US
Hiring of IT Pros has recovered from the recent "Big tech" lay offs - see CIO and IT Management Newsletter
IT Job Market and US National Employment Data - On a monthly basis - typically on the first Friday of the month - Janco publishes an analysis of the IT Job Market utilizing the BLS labor data and its proprietary data. See the latest press clipping go to Janco's Press Clippings and eJobDescription.com.
IT Job Market Shrinks in CY 2023
Updated with the lastest data
The salary survey is updated twice a year; once in January and then again in July. Janco and eJobDescription.com not only look at base salaries, they also report on total compensation and hiring trends for IT professionals.
Monthly Job Market Growth
Source BLS analysis by Janco Associates, Inc.
Hiring of IT Pros is hindered by the lack of qualified individuals and a slowing economic picture. This will have a dampening impact on the growth of the IT Job Market size.
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NOTE: The graphic below is updated with each new IT Salary Survey. The chart compares the data from the period of the survey to prior period.
Latest Median IT Salaries
For the latest data go to the current IT Salary Survey
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Hiring of IT Pros is at a record pace
4.2 Million individuals are employed as IT Pros in the US. The rate of growth in the number of new IT jobs created is slowing.
IT Job Market Shrinks (updated)
The number of IT jobs not filled now is just over 100K with 106K unemployed IT Professionals. Janco's initial forecast for the IT job market will shrink in CT 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 the end of October 2023
IT Job Market Change - October 2023
IT Job Market shrinks by 9,300 jobs YTD
Analysis shows that IT Job Market has shrunk in size. This is a sign that the downturn / recession has hit IT.
Updated
A robust hiring trend for IT Professionals - the recovery is slowing however, there are a number of jobs unfilled by IT Pros. The primary culprit is the lack of qualified individuals to fill the open positions. In our opinion, the IT Job Market is currently at no growth!
Based on BLS data analyzed by Janco in the first 3 quarters of 2022 an average of 200K IT jobs remained unfilled due to a lack of qualified individuals. In 2023 the number of unfilled jobs has fallen to around 100K.
The number of unfilled jobs trend line is down as the economy softens and CIOs and CFOs look to control costs and eliminate requisitions for positions that cannot be filled. There was a major pullback of the number of excess jobs for IT Pros occurred in December - layoffs have impact on number of unfilled jobs available for IT Professionals.
Historic IT Job Market Size
Data complied by Janco Associates with data as of November 2023
The current size of the IT job market to just over 4.19 million positions.
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
Hiring Plans for IT Professionals
CIOs have started to halt hiring IT Pros. Demand for contractors and consultants is slow due to economic uncertainty. The slowing economy and layoffs have resulted in the elimination of over 100K open re questions. On a bright side there are still over 120K unfilled jobs for IT Professionals.
Job Openings for IT Professionals
Major pull back of the number of excess jobs for IT Pros occurred in the 4th quarter of 2022 and continued through June of 2023 - economic slowing and resulting layoffs have impact on number of unfilled jobs available for IT Professionals. In June the number of unfilled job for IT Professionals fell to 98K from 123K - 25%!.
In September there were 106K unemployed IT Professionals.
Hiring for IT Pros in the US is high. Many positions for key skill are unfilled due to lack of qualified candidates applying for those positions.
Current IT Hiring Plans - IT Job Hiring Stalls
The treat of an economic downturn, inflation, high energy cost, and the continued wars will continue dampen hiring for IT pros over the the next few quarters.
Salaries for IT Pros in demand continues to move up. Based on our salary survey and models for positions in demand we conclude that developers of all types are in the highest demand at the highest salary levels.
Based on Janco's interviews and survey data the following positions are in high demand. There still are over 200K jobs for IT Pros that remain unfilled due to a lack of qualified candidates.
Updated with the latest IT Salary Survey Data see IT Salary Survey post pandemic
Approximately 85,000 undergraduate degrees are issued for majors in Information Technology. This number has been reduced by close to 10% due to Covid related shutdowns.
U.S. Department of Labor National Employment Report
In October the IT job market size grew by 7,300 jobs and 7,200 jobs added in the last 12 months.
Year to date, the IT job market shrank by 9,300 jobs.
The BLS reclassified jobs that are in the Telecommunication to Computer Systems Design and related services which is why the individual classifications show a large change last year.
Change In IT Job Market Size - October 2023
7,200 IT Jobs have been added in the past 12 months - The IT Job Market grew by 4,300 jobs in the last 3 months.
In interviews with both CIOs and HR professionals, Janco has found that hiring of IT professionals is a record high levels. This even with inflation and the specter of a possible economic downturn.
IT Job Market Change - October 2023
IT Job Market shrinks by 9,300 jobs YTD
Analysis shows that IT Job Market has shrunk in size. This is a sign that the downturn / recession has hit IT.
CIOs say short term hiring will slow
IT Job Market Change (updated)
In the last 12 months 7,200 jobs have been added to the IT job market. Trend line for number of IT jobs added is declining. In January, for the first time in 25 month there was a net loss in the number of jobs in the IT Job Market. That trend is continuing.
In the last six (6) months the total number of IT Pros employed has declined. CIOs and CFOs have started to slow the rate of creating new IT jobs and hiring IT Pros. Inflation and recessionary trends are driving this. There currently over 106,000 unemployed IT Pros.
The three month moving average for IT job market growth trend for IT Professionals shows a significant downward trend. That metric is the change rate in increase and/or decrease in the total number of new hires. What it means is that CIO and HR recruiters are continuing to hire at a rate that is higher than in prior months. When that metric falls below zero then hiring demand will fall back to previous levels.
When Communications jobs (shrinking source of IT Jobs)
are excluded.
Janco's CIO Hiring Plan Forecast has been significantly lowered for the balance of his calendar year. Many IT organizations still have open requisitions for IT pros that they are not able to fill because of the lack of good candidates.
Current IT Hiring Plans - IT Job Hiring Stalls
The treat of an economic downturn, inflation, high energy cost, and the continued wars will continue dampen hiring for IT pros over the the next few quarters.
Jobs initially added to the US Job Market
IT Job Market Employment Trends
The IT job market has recovered all of the IT jobs lost due to COVID and the shutdown. The size of the IT Job Market is now larger than existed before the pandemic.
Telecommunications positions now make up 19% of the total IT Job Market. Down from a high of the 22% in prior years.
The chart below is updated with Latest Data
Updated with Latest Data
It is very clear that telecommunication professionals are in a shrinking job market -- there is no end in sight.
Change In IT Job Market Size - October 2023
7,200 IT Jobs have been added in the past 12 months - The IT Job Market grew by 4,300 jobs in the last 3 months.
IT Job Market Size Adjustments - Prior Two Months
BLS adjusted up the number of jobs for IT Pros by 11,800 for the prior two months
Before adjustments
After Adjustments
Labor Force Participation
The work force participation percentage of all employees (male and female) is 62.7%. There are 99. million people who are not in the labor force. Inflation is driving more people back into the job market.
The Labor Force Participation percentage has fallen dramatically as a result of the pandemic shutdown.
Labor Participation Rate in the low 60's
Inflation is pushing more people back into the active labor market
99.9 million people in the U.S. are not counted in the labor force - see reasons why not working.
The overall unemployment rate rose while the labor participation rate rose is improving. That is a very favorable sign. More people are entering the labor market.
However, there are rumblings that a recession is just beyond the horizon are getting louder.
Reasons why people are not in the labor force are varied.
US National Employment
The US National unemployment rate had fallen from its peak levels in 2012 to the current levels. However this needs to be tempered with the fact that the labor market participation rate remains at the lowest it has been in over 50 years. The increase is due to the pandemic related shutdowns.
The Covid-19 shutdown caused a loss of over 30,000,000 jobs in the entire US Labor Market.
Jobs initially added to the US Job Market
H-1B Visas
Offshore outsourcing companies continued to make up the majority of the top H-1B visa applications according to new government data. These offshore firms have been adding employees by the thousands as their revenues increase. Infosys (India based) led the list in 2014 with 23,759 visa applications with a median salary for those positions $72,254, edging out Tata (India based) which had 14,098 visa requests-with a median salary for those positions $66,600.
In 2018 Infosys still lead the pack, but with fewer employees than in 2014. The median salary they paid was $82,993 -- almost $10,000 more than in 2014.
Over $15 billion dollars were paid to H-1B visa holders in 2018 with a median salary of $91,604.04
The median slay paid to the 2018 visa holders as lower than the median salary paid to all US IT professionals. That was $93,077.
US Federal Government Compensation Cap
US Federal Regulations set limits on how much companies can get reimbursed for the salaries they compensate their management. Companies can pay more, but cannot charge the government for the amounts paid above the limit. For many years, the caps only applied to the top 5 executives, but the rule changed in December 2011, and now the cap applies to all employees, not just the top 5 executives.
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