IT Job Market and US National Employment Data

IT job market prospects are tied to overall US national employment -- Janco reports IT Job market shrank by 3,900 in the past three months and and grew by 6,200 in the last 12 months

4.166 million individuals are employed as IT Pros in the US

Hiring of IT Pros has has slowed - 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 Hiring Slows - IT Pros Face Recessionary Job Market

Recent IT Job Market size - Recovery in full swing for IT Pros

Janco forecasts that the IT Job market will shrink for the second year in a row

IT Job Market Growth
Updated with the latest 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.

IT Job Market Size Trend

The IT job Market in CY 2024 shrank

Monthly IT 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

Latest Mean IT salaries
For the latest data go to the current IT Salary Survey


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IT Job Market will have shrunk by an average of 4,900 jobs each month in CY 2024

There are approximately 58K 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 the IT job market. Based on our data and forecast models, there will be no growth in the IT Job Market in the calendar year 2024.

 

IT Job Market Forecast

IT Pros unemployed

Number of Open Jobs for IT Prosa
Data complied and forecast updated by Janco Associates with data as of November 2024

IT Job Market Change - November 2024

IT Job Market grew by 3,000 jobs last month - lost 17,900 jobs YTD

YTD IT Job Market growth

Updated with the data from the BLS and Janco Associates Inc as of November 2024 Analysis shows that IT Job Market has shrunk by 48,600 jobs in 2023. In the first eleven months of 2024, the IT job market shrank by 17,900 jobs.

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Updated


IT Pros Hiring Plummets

 

Moving average of IT job market growth

Layoffs abound and there no longer is robust hiring trend for IT Professionals - the economy 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!
Unfilled IT Jobs

IT Job Market Openings

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 - layoffs have impact on number of unfilled jobs available for IT Professionals.

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Historic IT Job Market Size

Historic IT Job Market Size

Data complied by Janco Associates with data as of October 2024

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The current size of the IT job market to 4.18 million positions.

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


See Number Unemployed IT Pros  IT Job Families

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 171K unfilled jobs for IT Professionals.

Job Openings for IT Professionals

IT Job Market Openings

Openings for IT Professionals

A major pullback of the number of excess jobs for IT Pros occurred in the 4th quarter of 2022 and continued through last quarter of 2023 - economic slowing and resulting layoffs have impacted on number of unfilled jobs available for IT Professionals. In December the number of unfilled jobs for IT Professionals fell.

In October there were 71K unemployed IT Professionals with an IT Unemployment rate of 2.7%

Unemployed IT Professionals

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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

Future IT Hiring Trends by CIOs

With the move towards Artificial Intelligence, the treat of an economic downturn, inflation, high energy cost, and the continued wars will continue dampen hiring for IT pros over the next few quarters. Subscribe to our Newsletter to get this information delivered to your inbox as soon as it is released. SUBSCRIBE

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.

Developers command the highest medain salaries

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.

Positions in demand
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.

Read on about Career Opportunities

U.S. Department of Labor National Employment Report

In August the IT job market size grew by 4,000 jobs while 20,200 jobs added in the last 12 months.

In the last 3 months the IT job market lost 9,100 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 2024

Net Change in the number of IT Jobs

7,300 IT Jobs have been added in the last 12 months while 21,900 jobs were removed in the last 3 months.

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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 - November 2024

IT Job Market grew by 3,000 jobs last month - lost 17,900 jobs YTD

YTD IT Job Market growth

Updated with the data from the BLS and Janco Associates Inc as of November 2024 Analysis shows that IT Job Market has shrunk by 48,600 jobs in 2023. In the first eleven months of 2024, the IT job market shrank by 17,900 jobs.

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CIOs say short term hiring will slow

IT Job Market Change (updated) - Hiring of IT Pros Falls

In the last 12 months few jobs have been added to the IT job market. Trend line for number of IT jobs hired falls to all time lows.

IT Job Market Gains

3 month moving average

In the last several months the total number of IT Pros employed has declined. CIOs and CFOs have stopped creating new IT jobs and hiring IT Pros. Inflation and recessionary trends are driving this. There currently are approximately 58K unemployed IT Pros with an overall unemployment rate for them at 2.3% -- lower than the national average and that is greater than the number of unfilled positions for IT Pros.

IT Unemployment rate dips below the national unemployment rate

Nation IT Unemployment Rate

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.

Moving average of IT job market growth
When Communications jobs (shrinking source of IT Jobs)
are excluded. AI is impacting this postions as more communication AI automation applications are implemented.

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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

Future IT Hiring Trends by CIOs

With the move towards Artificial Intelligence, the treat of an economic downturn, inflation, high energy cost, and the continued wars will continue dampen hiring for IT pros over the next few quarters. Subscribe to our Newsletter to get this information delivered to your inbox as soon as it is released. SUBSCRIBE

Jobs initially added to the US Job Market

Initial number of new jobs reported

Read On Unemployment by State...

IT Job Market Employment Trends

The size of the IT Job Market is now larger than existed before the pandemic. However, Hiring of IT Pros has slowed

Telecommunications positions now make up 15% 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 Job Market Size

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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 2024

Net Change in the number of IT Jobs

7,300 IT Jobs have been added in the last 12 months while 21,900 jobs were removed in the last 3 months.

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IT Job Market Size Adjustments - Prior Two Months

BLS IT Job Market Adjustments

BLS increased the number of jobs for IT Pros by 1,500 jobs for the prior two months. This is the first time in 15 months they have increased the number of jobs for the prior two months. that ment the current month reported IT job market growth was overstated.

Before adjustments
IT job market status before BLS adjustments
After Adjustments
IT job market status after BLS adjustments

Labor Force Participation

The work force participation percentage of all employees (male and female) is 62.5%. There are 101.3 million people who are not in the labor force.

Work Force Participation

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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

Labor Force Participation rate stabilized at lowest level in the last 50 years

101.3 million people in the U.S. are not counted in the labor force - see reasons why not working.

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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.

CIO Hiring Trends

Information Technology National Unemployment Rate

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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

Initial number of new jobs reported

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 2024 Amazon led the pack wiht over 18,530 across the entire company (Amazon, Amazon.com, and Amazon Web. The Median salary paid was $145,437

Over $19.5 billion was paid to H-1B visa holders in 2024 with a median salary of $134,000

Top salaries paid were over $225,00 for these IT Pros.

H-1B Employers

In 2024 there were over 140,000 application and the median income for those positions was over $130,000. That equates to almost $20 billion dollars paid to foreign worker

H-1B Visas 2024

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.

Federal Govement Compensation Cap


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If you provide ten or more job title data points you will qualify to get a free copy of the full study. If you have any questions on the survey send us an e-mail at Janco Associates, Inc.