Dive Brief:
- Tech job openings decreased by 29% in 2022, with hiring for tech positions declining by 23%, according to a new report by iCIMS, a cloud-based human resources and recruiting software company.
- Overall tech job application activity slowed slightly, dropping 2% in 2022, according to the report, which aggregated data from 4,000 iCIMS customers and surveyed 1,000 members of the workforce.
- With tech sector layoffs making headlines and some companies pausing new hires in response to economic slowdown, IT workers may be “sheltering in their jobs” temporarily, the report said.
Dive Insight:
The winds may be shifting, but the overall climate hasn’t changed for technology workers or their employers.
Demand remained strong in December, with companies hiring 130,000 tech workers, according to CompTIA’s analysis of U.S. Bureau of Labor Statistics data. That marked a decline from the previous month’s 137,000 hires. Job postings for tech workers were down in December for the second straight month.
The unemployment rate for tech professionals has nonetheless remained under 2%, well below the national average for all professions, CompTIA reported.
Salaries are correspondingly high, as in-demand workers migrate to companies that offer better compensation, flexible work and additional benefits, according to Dice, the tech workforce marketplace.
The changes in applicant levels captured in the iCIMS report includes two types of candidates — unemployed technologists looking for jobs, and currently employed talent testing the market.
“While unemployed job seekers are likely to be more active, employed job seekers tend to become less active during times like this,” Rhea Moss, director of data insights and customer intelligence at iCIMS, told CIO Dive via email.
Technology service providers drew talent away from the enterprise CIO with better salaries, development opportunities and career prospects, according to Gartner’s IT spending forecast, released Wednesday.
“Enterprises are dealing with attrition rates that are higher than they would like, and with hiring that is more difficult than they would like,” John-David Lovelock, distinguished VP analyst at Gartner, told CIO Dive.
It took companies an average of 48 days to fill tech positions last year, up one day from 2021, according to the iCIMS report. That trend also reflects the challenges of recruiting tech talent in 2022. If the specter of layoffs coupled with economic uncertainty dissuades technologists from leaving their current positions, it may provide some relief.
