Over 156,000 IT Pros are unemployed
IT Job Market shrank by 57,400 jobs in 2023
Park City - UT - e-janco.com - Janco reports that IT Pros face the highest unemployment rates since the pandemic. Janco reported that the IT job market shrank by 700 jobs in 2023 last month. With the adjustments made by the BLS, Janco revised the loss in jobs for IT pros to 57,400 for 2023.
The BLS adjusted the number of IT jobs initially reported for October and November. They updated the number of jobs initially added in November (reduced by 27,000 jobs) and December (reduced by 26,500).
The adjustments reported by the BLS make January look better when comparing 2024 to 2023.
The unemployment rate soared to 5.5% in January with over 156,000 IT Pros unemployed according to the data published by the BLS. Last month we believed that the data presented by the BLS did not completely represent the condition of the IT job market. This latest data confirms that. At the same time, the BLS data reports that 14,900 jobs were added in January. The adjustments made by the BLS paint a much brighter picture for the current year. The unemployment rate for IT Pros, for the first time since the pandemic, now is at levels that point to a sharp downturn.
On the bright side, CIOs for large enterprises, Experienced Artificial Intelligence and Machine Learning IT Professionals remain 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.
Updated with the latest data
Our 2024 IT Survey was just released. The mean compensation for all IT professionals now exceeds $100K. Mean staff level positions are in the $81K to $82K range. However, most IT professionals’ salaries did not keep up with inflation. That is especially true for those who did not change jobs. If the business climate improves, we expect that attrition rates will increase.
ithin 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. The move to AI applications is reducing demand for many entry-level positions in IT.
According to the latest BLS data analyzed, there are now just under 4.2 million jobs for IT Professionals in the US. Layoffs at big tech companies continued to hurt overall IT hiring in 2024. 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. At the same time, with a mean total compensation of $100K for IT Pros, IT will continue to be a target for budget cutting.
To assist in managing these troubled times, Janco has just released an update to its 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 AI, compliance mandates, and the current economic environment - including WFH and Cloud processing. It meets all the mandated security requirements and best practices.
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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