“While the broader economy showed resilience in September with stronger-than-expected job growth, IT employment remains largely stuck in place,” said Mark Roberts, CEO of TechServe Alliance. “We have seen this all year.  After a general downward trajectory during latter half of 2022 and all of 2023, IT employment in 2024 has been effectively flat.  Month-to-month movement up or down has been barely perceptible,” added Roberts.  “With the cloud of uncertainty beginning to lift on the economy and with the election soon to be in the rear-view mirror, we are optimistic that 2025 will bring an environment more conducive to growth and investment in IT,” Roberts concluded.

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“As the overall job market softened in August, IT employment continued to struggle to gain momentum,” said Mark Roberts, TechServe’s CEO. “Throughout 2024, job growth in IT has been effectively flat after 23 consecutive months of job losses. I continue to see IT employment moving sideways until the fog of uncertainty lifts over the economy, the national election, and ongoing geopolitical turbulence.”

“Long-term, the demand for IT professionals will continue to outstrip supply and IT staffing companies prepared to respond to demand as the market recovers will be most likely to succeed and build enterprise value,” Roberts concluded.

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“Although IT employment showed small gains at the start of 2024 after 23 consecutive months of job losses, IT jobs have remained relatively flat over the past few months,” noted Mark Roberts, TechServe’s CEO. “While the overall job market had remained strong as IT jobs were declining throughout most of 2022 and 2023, July reflected a broader hiring slow down with lower-than-expected jobs growth and rising unemployment, which jumped to 4.3%.”

“Despite the labor market weakening which triggered stock market volatility, I do not anticipate any meaningful decline in IT employment during the coming months as we have already seen the ‘correction’ in IT hiring. Unfortunately, until the widespread apprehension over the economy dissipates, I am also not anticipating significant growth either,” added Roberts.  “Longer term, the perennial demand for IT and critical IT skill sets has not gone away—many backlogged IT projects are awaiting budgets to open up once the cloud of uncertainty clears,” observed Roberts.

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“While IT employment began 2024 posting small gains, the last few months have been effectively flat with month-to-month shifts within a very narrow range,” observed Mark Roberts, TechServe’s CEO. “With continued macroeconomic uncertainty and general unease around the future, employers continue to exercise caution in their hiring practices.  Despite softer demand when compared to the hiring frenzy that followed in the wake of Covid, many IT skill sets are still in short supply as reflected by a Q2 IT unemployment of only 2.5%.  While demand will always ebb and flow based on the perception of macroeconomic and business trajectory, the limited supply of talent in high demand skill sets such as those powering the AI revolution will remain an ongoing challenge,” added Roberts.

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“After four consecutive months of reporting modest growth, May IT employment was effectively flat,” observed Mark Roberts, TechServe’s CEO. “Although the overall job market posted strong gains, IT employment is still struggling to gain momentum after the extraordinary run-up in the aftermath of Covid.  With a multitude of mixed signals from the economy and pervasive uncertainty including the future direction of the Fed’s interest rate policy, many employers remain cautious in their hiring.  A counterweight to this caution is the need for companies to continue to invest in IT initiatives such as AI that are essential to maintaining a competitive edge,” added Roberts.

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“At this point in the cycle, we are looking more at the trajectory of IT employment rather than absolute gains. With April marking the fourth consecutive month of gains after 23 months of no growth, it appears we are moving in the right direction,” observed Mark Roberts, TechServe’s CEO. “April’s IT employment figures echo what we are hearing from our members who report a modest uptick in Q1 IT hiring after a more challenging 2023. While we don’t see going back to the frenzied hiring days we saw in 2021 and 2022, we anticipate demand will remain strong, particularly in skill sets such as those enabling businesses to deploy AI.

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“While growth in the last three months has been modest, it does reflect a positive trend after 23 consecutive months of contraction or no growth,” observed Mark Roberts, TechServe’s CEO. “Growth in IT employment aligns with the strength seen in the overall labor market.”

“We have further confirmation of the positive trajectory of the IT job market as Q1 IT unemployment held steady at 2.4%—full employment by any measure.  While there are a number of economic, political, and geopolitical risk factors that continue to cause some employers to hire cautiously, demand for tech talent in high-demand skill sets such as cybersecurity and AI remains strong.” Roberts added.

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“After 23 consecutive months of contraction or no growth, IT employment ticked up modestly in February for the second consecutive month.  I am also encouraged that the three-month moving average turned positive for the first time since March 2022,” observed Mark Roberts, TechServe’s CEO.

“While there are signs that the economy remains resilient with increasing consumer and business confidence, we’re still seeing mixed signals across geographies, client industries and companies making it challenging to construct a cohesive narrative. While there’s been a slowdown in layoffs which peaked early last year, many companies continue to take a cautious approach to hiring. The countervailing force is the recognition by corporate leaders that continuing to invest in technology and the talent that can build and manage it is a business imperative.  This sentiment is continuing to fuel demand in many IT skill sets such as those associated with AI, automation and cybersecurity,” added Roberts.

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Alexandria VA, Feb. 7, 2024 – After contracting for 23 consecutive months, IT employment inched up 0.08%, adding 4,400 jobs in January, according to TechServe Alliance, the national trade association for the Technology Staffing and Solutions Industry.  On a year-over-year basis, IT employment was down 1.24% with a loss of 66,700 positions. Employment in Engineering was up 2.0% in a year-over-year comparison, adding 55,500 jobs during the same period.

“While one month does not make a trend, the TechServe IT Employment index posted its first positive number in almost two years,” observed Mark Roberts, CEO of TechServe.  “While we saw significant month-over-month contraction beginning in the second half of 2022 and continuing through the Spring of 2023, the declines began to moderate during the second half of the year.  Over the last few months, we have seen IT employment numbers come in effectively flat.  With the economic storm clouds appearing to have largely dissipated, the first actual uptick in IT employment in almost two years is cause for cautious optimism for 2024.”

“Despite the good news, it is important to remember that we are not yet in an environment that will ‘lift all boats.’  Certain tech companies continue to temper their hiring given the over-hiring during the pandemic. Other sectors of the economy are signaling renewed strength and recovery.  While challenges persist, this month’s data echoes a narrative of resilience and gradual progress within IT employment,” Roberts added.   

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“As we begin a new year, the IT employment landscape is not easily distilled to a single narrative,” said Mark Roberts, CEO of TechServe Alliance. “While demand for IT professionals remains soft in some sectors, other areas of the economy are ramping up. With the IT unemployment rate at 2.4% (Q4) considered to be “full employment” (albeit higher than the 1.9% in Q3), tech talent remains constrained in high-demand skill sets such as cybersecurity, cloud computing, and artificial intelligence. While some of the fog has lifted around the prospects for the economy in 2024 and buoyed optimism, I believe demand for IT talent is going to continue to range widely based on region, industry, and even between companies in the same sector,” observed Roberts.

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Mark Roberts, CEO of TechServe Alliance, commented on the recent trends: “While the market for IT professionals is expansive, heterogeneous, and not easily captured by a single narrative, it is fair to say we have not yet seen a return of robust demand.  While the economy remains strong by most measures, the Fed’s restrictive interest rate policies are clearly having an effect on labor markets.

“Despite softer demand, the availability of tech talent remains constrained in high-demand skill sets, such as those related to AI, analytics, and security.”

Roberts further elaborated on the paradoxical nature of the current market dynamics, stating, “With softer demand coexisting with an IT unemployment rate of only 1.94% (Q3), it continues to be a peculiar and unusual market.”

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“After steeper declines in IT employment during the second half of last year through the first half of this year, employment levels have been essentially “running in place” for the last six months. While hiring has slowed as many employers continue to wait for the recession ‘shoe to drop,’ the talent supply is still tight in high demand skill sets,” stated Mark Roberts, CEO of TechServe Alliance. “Paradoxically, we have softer demand, but IT unemployment in Q3 stood at only 1.94%—well below full employment. It remains a weird market,” observed Roberts.

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“For the fifth consecutive month, IT employment was again essentially flat,” stated Mark Roberts, CEO of TechServe Alliance. “It is a weird market.  Many companies remain cautious given the ongoing uncertainty around the trajectory of the broader economy.  This has caused some employers to pause or extend the timeline of their hiring decisions. Nevertheless, the talent supply in many high-demand IT skill sets remains very tight. In Q3, IT unemployment stood at only 1.94%—well below full employment.  No single narrative fully describes a very mixed (shall we say weird) IT employment landscape,” Roberts observed.

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“After a significant downdraft in IT employment through April, IT employment has been effectively “running in place” the last four months. In August, the change in IT employment was barely perceptible with a tick down of only 1,300 jobs nationwide or 0.02%,” observed Mark Roberts, CEO of TechServe Alliance.

“The absence of significant changes in IT employment over the last few months is clearly reflected in the hiring process—many employers have paused or slowed their hiring decisions. While the caution displayed by employers is largely attributable to the fear of a recession—a recession that has yet to arrive—we fully expect the hiring landscape to change once there is sustained evidence that we are not headed into a downturn. Digital transformation and IT projects critical to maintaining competitiveness have not gone away with many companies feeling a new sense of urgency to pursue an AI-led strategy,” Roberts added.

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“After steeper declines in IT employment during the second half of last year through the first half of this year, employment levels have stabilized the last three months—coming in effectively flat in both June and July.  While many employers shed jobs as part of their effort to correct over hiring during the pandemic and other employers pulled back on hiring amid the fear of recession—a recession that has yet to arrive, we appear to be poised for a shift in momentum” said Mark Roberts, CEO of TechServe Alliance.

“While caution still seems to be the dominant watchword across the business community, there are regions and sectors that continue to hire.  For example, computer systems and design services, management and technical consulting services and data processing, hosting and related services—sub-sectors that employ large numbers of IT professionals—all posted growth in July.  With pent-up demand amid an unemployment rate of only 2.4% in Q2, we are going to see a return to the full-fledged war for IT talent once employers regain confidence in the economy,” added Roberts.

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“After the better part of a year losing more than 10,000 jobs a month, IT employment has stabilized the last two months, coming in essentially flat in June.  As I have noted before, the drop through much of 2022 and the beginning of 2023 reflected both a correction of the over-hiring by some sectors and employers being generally more cautious amid economic uncertainty” observed Mark Roberts, CEO of TechServe Alliance.

“While overall IT employment has not yet returned to a growth trajectory, the supply of talent remains tight.  After rising to 2.7% in Q1, the IT unemployment rate dropped to 2.4% in Q2—well below the unemployment rate of 3.6% of the overall workforce and what is deemed full employment,” added Roberts. “While the data may appear to be sending mixed messages, the bottom line is it remains a ‘sellers’ market in high demand IT skill sets.”

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This resource can assist small businesses improve their understanding of their compliance obligations and explore strategies for establishing and maintaining compliance practices. This toolkit also provides an overview of common federal labor and employment laws with which small businesses must comply, along with several valuable compliance-related resources.

By regularly reviewing their compliance practices and procedures, small businesses can evaluate how well they’re meeting legal requirements, stay current on regulatory changes and correct any issues before they become larger problems.

Download the HR Toolkit: Small Business Compliance Guide Here

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“The May IT employment numbers show a promising trend – while employment continued to decline, we see a deceleration in the rate of decline in the last three months,” observed, Mark Roberts, CEO of TechServe Alliance. He noted that while hiring has slowed down in the tech industry, particularly in places like Silicon Valley, there are other sectors and geographic regions that continue to expand their IT workforce to keep pace with the emerging trends and technologies that are reshaping all industries.

“Rapid advancements in artificial intelligence, cloud computing, cybersecurity, and other areas demand that companies remain at the forefront of industry developments to remain competitive and seize new opportunities. Adding IT talent to their rosters is critical to their achieving their business goals,” Roberts said.

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Continuing the trend that began last year, IT jobs declined 0.19% month-over-month in April, according to TechServe Alliance, the national trade association for the Technology Staffing and Solutions Industry. On a year-over-year basis, IT employment was down 2.25% from April 2022, a net loss of 123,800 jobs. The Engineering sector showed a year-over-year job growth rate of 2.89% with the addition of 78,400 jobs during the year.

“While IT employment continued to decline in April for the 13th consecutive month, the rate of decline moderated after peaking in February,” said Mark Roberts, CEO of TechServe Alliance. “While some industries are still correcting their over-hiring done during the pandemic and in its immediate aftermath and others are in a holding pattern, there are sectors and geographic regions which continue to grow their IT headcount. For example, computer systems and design services, management and technical consulting services and data process, hosting and related services—sub-sectors that all employ large numbers of IT professionals—all posted growth in April.”

“The strength or weakness of demand for IT talent varies widely. There is no single narrative that accurately describes the current IT employment landscape,” Roberts observed.

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“With the onset of the pandemic, remote work and demand for digital transformation across all industries heightened the competition for talent, only to be followed by worker movement in what has been dubbed the Great Resignation, adding a new layer of hiring complexity,” said Mark Roberts, CEO of TechServe Alliance. “Throughout these changes, tech employment has remained strong as hiring managers continue to face challenges in filling specialized tech roles.

“Despite entering a period of economic uncertainty, we expect this high level of demand for IT professionals to continue as supply remains insufficient to meet the needs of businesses; hiring organizations will need to be laser-focused on strategies that discover talent through new sources while emphasizing their brand value to retain their skilled workforce,” Roberts added.

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Engineering employment grew by 0.33% sequentially to 2,680,000. On a year-over-year basis, engineering employment increased by 3.39% since March 2021, adding 87,900 engineering workers.

“The new norm of work-from-anywhere has intensified the competition among companies for high-demand tech skills,” said Mark Roberts, CEO of TechServe Alliance. “This is not only putting significant pressure on organizations on the hiring front but also making retention of their existing workforce an imperative. Clearly, to be successful in this environment, it’s time for employers to not only rewrite the hiring and retention playbook but also cast a wider net by diversifying the technology talent pool.”

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This upward trend comes after the year 2021 saw record quit rates. In particular, around 4.5 million workers left their jobs in November 2021. In February’s report, many industries, including retail trade, durable goods manufacturing and state and local government education, saw significant increases from January’s numbers. In contrast, the finance and insurance segment saw a notable decrease in quits.

Other key takeaways from the report include a relatively unchanged quit rate, despite the increase in total quits. Additionally, February saw 6.7 million hires, an increase of 263,000 from January. However, the number of job openings remained relatively unchanged, with around 11.3 million open positions.

Employer Takeaway

This increase in quits indicates that the demand for workers remains high, and employers continue to face challenges retaining employees at the start of the year.

Various factors influence this high quit rate. Many workers are leaving their jobs for advantages including improved compensation, benefits or workplace flexibility, such as positions that allow remote work. Additionally, safety concerns have remained for many workers amid the ongoing COVID19 pandemic. While COVID-19 cases trended down in February, the coronavirus Omicron variant and its subvariant BA.2 continue to persist.

These labor challenges are largely expected to continue into 2022 in today’s worker-friendly employment market. Employers should continue to monitor employment trends to stay informed on the ever-changing labor market. Contact TechServe Alliance today for more resources.

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Engineering employment grew by 0.20% sequentially to 2,670,500. On a year-over-year basis, engineering employment increased by 3.42% since February 2021, adding 88,400 engineering workers.

“Since emerging from its low of ebb brought on by the pandemic, IT employment has been essentially flat for last seven months. IT employment ticked down modestly for the first time in more than 18 months, reflecting an extraordinarily tight supply of technical talent,” said Mark Roberts, CEO of TechServe Alliance. “It’s up to companies to formulate their talent acquisition strategies that meet the expectations of the talent in terms of compensation and return-to-work policies. Additionally, to be successful in this environment, companies must be creative and diversify their approach to sourcing candidates.”

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Engineering employment grew by 0.15% sequentially to 2,666,200. On a year-over-year basis, engineering employment increased by 3.61% since January 2021, adding 92,900 engineering workers.

“Demand for IT professionals is strong with companies seeking talent to accelerate their digital strategies. However, IT and engineering staffing executives tell us that many critical job roles stay open for extended periods of time requiring extraordinary recruiting efforts to attract candidates,” said Mark Roberts, CEO of TechServe Alliance. “Companies have to understand that in today’s environment of the Great Reassessment and high workforce expectations, remote and hybrid work policies are table stakes. Additionally, if they want to attract and retain their IT workforce, they must revise their compensation structure to stay competitive in the new normal.”

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“As expected, overall IT employment continued to slide in March as some geographic markets and industry sectors retrench after overhiring during the pandemic and in its immediate aftermath.  While the IT unemployment rate rose from 2.1% in Q4 of 2022 to 2.7% in Q1 reflecting this softening of demand amidst economic uncertainty, it remains well below the level deemed full employment,” said Mark Roberts, CEO of TechServe Alliance. ”As I have noted previously, there is no single narrative that accurately describes the current market.  While some sectors have engaged in layoffs that include tech workers, demand for many skill sets remains strong with IT professionals being redeployed to other industries,” added Roberts.

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IT Jobs declined 0.12% month-over-month in February despite an unemployment rate in IT of only 2.1% in Q4, according to TechServe Alliance, the national trade association of the Technology Staffing and Solutions Industry. On a year-over-year basis, IT employment was down 1.59% from February 2022, a net of 87,000 jobs. The Engineering sector showed a year-over-year job growth rate of 3.49% with the addition of 93,600 jobs during the year and with an unemployment rate of 2.2% in Q4.

“In the aggregate, U.S. IT employment continued to decline reflecting softer demand in some sectors of the economy.  In particular, tech companies are retrenching after over-hiring during the height of the pandemic and its immediate aftermath,” said Mark Roberts, CEO of TechServe Alliance.  “However, actual employment of individuals does not happen in the aggregate.  Many companies in a range of sectors continue to have difficulty hiring for high-demand IT skill sets.  With a historically low IT unemployment rate of 2.1% in Q4 and with hundreds of thousands of open positions, the IT employment landscape does not fit a single narrative.”

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“While we all like to distill data to a simple narrative, reality is often more complicated,” said Mark Roberts, CEO of TechServe Alliance.  ”As a national data point, we see a modest decline in overall IT employment when unemployment in IT occupations remains at historically low levels (2.1% as of Q4) with hundreds of thousands open IT positions.  While the decline is clearly a reflection of the labor market churn that includes tech layoffs and a greater reluctance to add to direct headcount in some areas of the country and in some sectors, there remains a shortage of talent in many IT skill sets and strong demand persists in other parts of the economy.”

“The IT employment landscape is not monolithic. While we see a pullback among tech giants due to over hiring during the last few years, many IT positions go unfilled at other companies. Despite headwinds in some quarters, IT staffing with its inherent flexibility appears poised to continue to grow throughout 2023,” Roberts added.

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 “While the decline in IT jobs and the stunningly low unemployment rate in IT seem contradictory, I attribute it to the uneven impact of the economic downdraft.  While some sectors are contracting and pulling back on hiring and even engaging in layoffs as reflected by the actions of some high-profile tech firms, other parts of the economy continue to thrive and expand their teams,” commented Mark Roberts, CEO of TechServe Alliance.  “While this ‘realignment’ inevitably creates churn which can be reflected as a decline in jobs, the unemployment rate of 2.1% tells the story—there remains a shortage of IT professionals in high demand skill sets,” added Roberts.

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“While layoffs among some high-profile tech companies have been in the news, demand for talent for technology professionals overall remains very strong. When one sector of the economy reduces its workforce, high demand skill sets are redeployed to other industries,” said TechServe Alliance CEO Mark Roberts. “With an IT unemployment rate of just 2.3% as of the end of Q3, most qualified candidates continue to receive multiple job offers with escalating wage growth. It remains a ‘candidates’ market’,” added Roberts.

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“Headlines may say that there are significant economic headwinds, but it’s important for businesses to understand that the 2.3% unemployment rate for IT tells a different story,” said TechServe Alliance CEO Mark Roberts. “It tells us that the lack of growth in IT jobs is not a demand issue, it remains a supply problem. Fundamentally, there are simply not enough people to fill the vacant jobs, and that will not change in the foreseeable future,” added Roberts.

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