Technology Jobs Market Update Feb – 2024
2024 will be the year of stability
The technology industry saw its ups and downs in 2023 with several industries left with no option but to reduce its human capital cost due to slower demand and overall economic stress.
The good news is that 2024 is witnessing a promising start. The hiring numbers have gone up and technology leaders look hopeful for an upward trend in 2024 as compared to 2023.
We are witnessing increased focus on initiatives that have the potential to reduce time to market, showcase a competitive edge, and improve security.
Another area where we expect higher demand in coming months is level 1 and 2 IT support, which will essentially be fueled by the push to call more and more employees back to the office.
As per a recent study by Deloitte, economists are more optimistic about the US economy as a whole, lowering the risk of a recession in 2024 to below 50%. Deloitte’s analysis pegs the risk at just 20%.
This is good news for the technology departments, as a stable economic outlook is expected to improve confidence among the CFOs to allocate more budget for the technology initiatives.
Artificial Intelligence, Cloud Computing and Cybersecurity topped the list of technologies in focus for the next 12 months.
The unemployment rate in IT remained unchanged from December, at 2.3 percent. This is substantially lower than the national unemployment rate of 3.7 percent.
Below are the top 5 positions tech posting in February:
| Job Postings | February |
| Software Developers & Engineers | 46,211 |
| IT Project Managers, Data Analysts, Emerging | 32,146 |
| IT Support Specialists | 18,951 |
| Systems Analysts and Engineers | 13,352 |
| Data Scientists | 11,820 |
Project Managers and Software Developers continue to be in strong demand often exceeding availability.
This is especially true in on-site and hybrid environment. It becomes even more challenging when an additional skillset is needed, for example, Project Manager with experience in implementing ERP, CRM, Supply Chain or similar.
In such cases, reaching out to a strategic staffing partner with a strong local network and approaching inactive candidates is the most effective solution.
Remote Working
While more and more employers are trying to bring their employees back to their physical offices, there is also a continued increase in demand for remote workers, especially in roles that are difficult to fill. IT Project Managers and Systems Analysts top this list. A more detailed chart projecting the top 6 remote job posts is available below:
| Job Postings | February | vs. January |
| Software Developers | 8,947 | -337 |
| IT Project Managers, Data Analysts, EmTech | 6,105 | +329 |
| Systems Analysts | 2,670 | +366 |
| Data Scientists | 2,613 | +55 |
| IT Support Specialists | 2,245 | +52 |
| Cybersecurity Analysts and Engineers | 1,887 | -366 |
Artificial Intelligence is the prominent talking point among most technology and business executives.
Finally, we are seeing a steady increase in demand for AI professionals largely from the tech product companies at this stage.
However, with growing interest among executives across industries and the overall speedy development in the AI space, we expect that the demand for such skills will increase from non-tech companies as well in the next 12–24 months.
Conclusion
The shift in 2024 seems to be more balanced between employer and employee. This is also the time when we expect a higher number of professionals to look at upskilling. One such gradual move that we are witnessing is that skills are given higher importance than a degree.
There may still be some news of layoffs by large tech companies, but the same may not be echoed across industries.
The demand for on-site work will continue to rise but will also come with its own challenges, especially in the form of a longer hiring cycle and higher costs. Having said this, remote work is not going anywhere anytime soon.