IT Pros Face a Tight Job Market - Hard To Get a Job
IT Unemployment Rate is 6.0% with 148,000 unemployed IT Pros
More IT Pros are unemployed than available positions
Park City - UT - e-janco.com - Janco reports the overall unemployment rate for IT pros in August soared to 6.0%. High unemployment is defined by the BLS as being 5.5% or greater. The unemployment rate for IT Pros rose from 5.6% to 6.0% and has been greater than the national unemployment rates for seven (7) of the last eight (8) months. J. Janco will be publishing its full set of findings on Substack (https://itmanager.substack.com/).
The CEO of Janco, M. Victor Janulaitis said, “The job market for IT Pros is the worst it has been since the dot com bust. There now are more unemployed IT Pros than positions that are available. The available positions are not for legacy skills, rather they are for AI, LLM, and blockchain technology.” He added, “Unemployed IT Pros are having more difficulties finding positions at their prior compensation levels in most regions of the country. Currently, it can take several months for unemployed IT Pros to complete the interview process and receive a job offer. This is driven by CIOs and CEOs who have pulled back many open requisitions and halted and/or slowed non-critical IT Initiatives.”
National Unemployment Rate versus IT Pros Unemployment Rate
In October the BLS reported the National Unemployment Rate was 4.1% and 2.7% for IT Professionals.
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Also, he said, “The unemployment rate for IT Professionals is 6.0% with little to show this will improve in the short term. 148,000 IT Pros are currently unemployed. Most unemployed IT Pros have limited new technology skills. It has been reported there are many IT Pros who are looking at online courses to learn about AI and how to improve their skill sets. At the same time, BLS data shows that only 78,000 IT Pros were hired in July and about that same number in August. Our analysis predicts the same will be the case for September.”
Janulaitis stated, “From our interviews, we have found hiring and job growth continues to be in small to mid-sized enterprises. Many of the larger firms continue to be focused on improvements in productivity and replacing lower-level skills with AI applications. AI has halted the growth of entry-level positions within IT, especially in customer service, internal reporting, telecommunications, and hosting automation. C-level executives continue to be focused on eliminating “non-essential” managers, staff, and services. Experienced coders and developers have limited opportunities with legacy applications. The highest demand continues to be for AI, security professionals, new technology programmers, and Internet processing IT Pros.“
The CEO added, “According to the latest BLS data analyzed, there are now approximately 4.18 million jobs for IT Professionals in the US. Layoffs at big tech companies continued to hurt overall IT hiring. Large high-tech firms continue to lay off to have better bottom lines. Included in that group of companies that have recently announced new layoffs are Intel, Microsoft, and Google.”
Janco’s current forecast is that the IT job market may grow slightly in CY 2024. The current forecast is that 4,000 jobs will be added to the IT Job Market in the calendar year 2024. That will not be enough to absorb all the unemployed IT Pros.
The CEO added, “According to the latest BLS data analyzed, there are now approximately 4.18 million jobs for IT Professionals in the US. Layoffs at big tech companies continued to hurt overall IT hiring. Large high-tech firms continue to lay off to have better bottom lines. Included in that group of companies that have recently announced new layoffs are Intel, Microsoft, and Google.”
Janco’s current forecast is that the IT job market may grow slightly in CY 2024. The current forecast is that 5,000 jobs will be added to the IT Job Market in the calendar year 2024. That will not be enough to absorb all the unemployed IT Pros.
IT Job Market - November 2024 Forecast for the CY 2024
BLS makes major adjustments to the job market data showing an average decrease in the number of jobs for IT pros.
There has been a major shift in the creation of new IT Jobs - AI and economic slowing are the drivers.
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IT Job Market Change - October 2024
IT Job Market shrank by 8,400 jobs last month - lost 29,100 jobs YTD
Updated with the data from the BLS and Janco Associates Inc as of October 2024 Analysis shows that IT Job Market has shrunk by 48,600 jobs in 2023. In the first ten months of 2024, the IT job market shrank by 29,100 jobs.
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In a further analysis, Janco has found that the BLS could be over projecting the number of jobs in the IT Job Market. The BLS reduced the number of jobs for IT Pros by 6,200 jobs for the prior two months – In July the BLS had reduced the same number by an additional 3,900 for a total adjustment of 9,100 over the past three months - that means the 4,000 increase in August is overstated.
BLS 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.
IT Job Market - November 2024 Forecast for the CY 2024
BLS makes major adjustments to the job market data showing an average decrease in the number of jobs for IT pros.
There has been a major shift in the creation of new IT Jobs - AI and economic slowing are the drivers.
Subscribe to our Newsletter to get this information delivered to your inbox as soon as it is released. SUBSCRIBE
IT Job Market Change - October 2024
IT Job Market shrank by 8,400 jobs last month - lost 29,100 jobs YTD
Updated with the data from the BLS and Janco Associates Inc as of October 2024 Analysis shows that IT Job Market has shrunk by 48,600 jobs in 2023. In the first ten months of 2024, the IT job market shrank by 29,100 jobs.
Subscribe to our Newsletter to get this information delivered to your inbox as soon as it is released. SUBSCRIBE
The CEO added, “We reviewed data on recent graduates from universities and found that most Masters and Doctoral degrees we for non-US nationals. This is a problem as there is a need to educate our existing (US nationals) IT pros on the new technologies that are being developed and deployed. IT pros who want to get these new skills, are starting to look at technical trade schools and certification programs to acquire the new skills they need.”
Janco’s analysis of the IT job market is based on current BLS data, hiring trends monitored by Janco, budgets for IT initiatives in companies Janco monitors, and its proprietary forecasting model.
In the last three (3) month the IT Job market shrank by 21,900 jobs. This chart is not the originally published one, rather it is updated with the current data based on the analysis by Janco Associates, Inc. For the latest IT Employment Data click here. Subscribe to our Newsletter to get this information delivered to your inbox as soon as it is released. SUBSCRIBE
