Hiring of IT Pros slows and Salary Increases Minimized
IT job market grew by only 3,400 jobs YTD versus 97,300 in 2022
BLS adjusts down the number of IT Pros hired in March and April by 9,300
(Park City UT – Janco Associates Inc. (https://e-janco.com) – Janco reports that YTD, the IT job market grew by 3,400 jobs in the first five months of 2023. That is in contrast with 97,300 jobs that were created in the same period of 2022. The number of unfilled jobs for IT Pros shrank from 200K plus in December to just under 80K at the end of May.
Janco has revised its forecast for the IT Job market down by over 20K to 60K-70K from 80K-90K for the calendar year 2023.
The growth of the IT job market stopped in January with a decline of 2,600 jobs and the BLS initially reported there was a loss of 11,600 jobs in February and a slight gain of 500 jobs in March. They revised their data to show a gain of 4,900 jobs in February and 7,700 in March. Currently, there is an excess of 145K unfilled jobs for IT Pros due to a lack of qualified candidates.
IT Job Market Size Adjustments - Prior Two Months
BLS reduced the number of jobs for IT Pros by 17,900 jobs for the prior two months - Note last month the BLS had adjusted the same number by an additional 3,000 for a total adjustment of 20,900 - that means the current month reported IT job market growth is overstated.
Before adjustments
After Adjustments
September initially showed that only 1,200 jobs had been lost with the prior adjustments. With the current adjustments 20,700 jobs were lost. Over the last 3 years, adjustments of this magnitude have been common.
Updated
IT Pros Hiring Plummets
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!
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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Updated with the latest data
The CEO of Janco, M. Victor Janulaitis said, “Based on our analysis, the IT job market and opportunities for IT professionals is less than optimal. In the first five (5) months of 2023, the big losers were information service providers losing 8,800 jobs, telecommunications losing 3,100, and content providers losing 1,900 jobs. The jobs lost were in data center operations, administrative and HR roles related to recruiting, and DEI (diversity, equity, and inclusion). Some roles, especially in telecommunications and data center operations are being automated and eliminated. Driving this is, CIOs and CFOs who are looking to improve the productivity of IT by automating processes and reporting where possible. They are focusing on eliminating “non-essential” managers and staff. Experienced coders and developers still have opportunities. The highest demand continues to be for security professionals, programmers, and blockchain processing IT Pros. Currently, there are over 145K unfilled jobs.”
He said, “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 IP Pros and increasing 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.
The CEO added, “According to the latest BLS data analyzed, there are now 4.19 million jobs for IT Professionals in the US. Layoffs at big tech companies had an adverse effect on 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 will have shrunk by an average of 4,900 jobs in CY 2024
There are approximately 71K 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.
Data complied and forecast updated by Janco Associates with data as of October 2024
With this as a background, Janco revised its forecasts for the growth of the IT Job Market in 2023 by 20K to the 60K to 70K range. That will be less growth than in 2021 and 2022, but still with some growth in the latter half of this year. To assist in managing these troubled times, Janco has just released the 2023 edition CIO Management Tool Kit. See https://e-janco.com/it-management-toolkit.html. This tool kit has been updated to reflect changes to the IT Infrastructure caused by compliance mandates and the current economic environment - including WFH and Cloud processing. It meets all the mandated security requirements and best practices.
Janulaitis said, “Many of the issues faced by the economy continue to be due to ongoing supply chain problems. If China opens fully, overall supply chains should improve but will take several months to completely recover. That should lessen the recessionary pressures that are driving companies to reduce staff.”
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.
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