Coronavirus could slow IT Job Market expansion

27,200 new IT Jobs created in January and February according to Janco

Coronavirus could slow down the hiring process for IT pros as people to people contact is reduced

IT Infrastructure Policy BundlePark City – UT– Janco Associates, Inc. (Janco) e-janco.com), Over 120,000 new IT jobs were created in the last 12 months. Janco questions whether that pace can be maintained with the adverse impacts of the coronavirus pandemic.

The CEO of Janco Associates, Inc., Mr. M. Victor Janulaitis said, “IT job market expansion was impressive in the first two months of 2020 with 27,200 job added. That is almost double the growth recorded last year.” He added, “On the downside, with the coronavirus taking hold in the US, many corporations are now limiting people to people contacts, industry conferences being canceled, travel limited,  and major companies having their employees work remotely from their homes. As a result, the interview and recruiting process will be elongated, implementation and development activities could slow down, and product and service marketing efforts will be slowed.”

Janulaitis said, “On the bright side, there has be a noticeable pick-up in development activities associated with initiatives which support telecomputing and mobile applications. That could be the spark that drives a wave of growth over the two or three quarters. In any case, companies that rely on manufacturing outside of the US will see a reduction in earnings. That in turn could cause them to begin to look at reducing operating costs. A bad omen for the long-term growth prospects of the IT job market.

The CEO added, “…In a series of conference calls with C-Level executives, we noticed that some key positions at the senior and middle management levels were put on hold because of concerns on how to add members to the IT management teams with the limitations of people to people contact and travel that most companies have instituted.”

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.

The total IT job market is now over 3.67 million positions within the US. The number of Telecommunications positions continues to erode as more of the functions are impacted by AI. A recent press release by Corner Bowl Software (https://bit.ly/2tDvIMl), describes how AI and automation of monitoring and management of telecommunication no longer requires a large staff.

Change In IT Job Market Size - February 2024

Net Change in the number of IT Jobs

22,000 IT Jobs have been added in the last 12 months and 1,300 jobs eliminated in the last 3 months.


IT Job Market segmentation

 

IT Job Market Flat for FY 2024

There now are just over 121K 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.

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 March 2024

Janulaitis said, “Janco has just updated its DR/BC Template and 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 Market  

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.