The tech unemployment rate fell to 1.5 percent in January, according to the latest CompTIA analysis of data from the U.S. Bureau of Labor Statistics (BLS).
“Undoubtedly some companies over-hired and are now scaling back. The low tech unemployment rate and steady hiring activity by employers confirms the long-term demand for tech talent across many sectors of the economy,” Tim Herbert, chief research officer for CompTIA, wrote in a statement accompanying the data.
Tech job postings jumped month-over-month in a number of tech hubs, including Atlanta (up 2,941 postings), New York City (up 2,935), Dallas (up 1,788), Houston (up 1,156), Austin (up 1,086), Tampa (up 1,049) and Washington (up 1,009). Many industries also enjoyed strong tech job demand, including professional, scientific and technical services (40,712 tech job postings), finance and insurance (30,576 tech job postings) and manufacturing (24,269 tech job postings).
Despite the headlines about massive layoffs at some of the world’s biggest tech companies (including Google, Amazon, Microsoft, and others), as well as significant staff cutbacks at prominent tech startups, the BLS data makes it clear that organizations throughout the economy need tech professionals for everything from securing networks to building the next generation of mobile apps.
Why are the tech giants cutting back even as overall tech unemployment plunges? On multiple earnings calls, the CEOs of these companies have generally blamed exuberant hiring during the pandemic, when stay-at-home orders forced consumers and companies to binge on cloud-based apps and services, e-commerce, and new devices. This flood of revenue led companies like Amazon to invest massive amounts of money in talent. But with widespread fears of an economic recession on the horizon, many businesses and consumers are now cutting back on their spending, driving down the tech giants’ revenue—leading to employee cuts.
Over at Stratechery, there’s a great breakdown of the other factors that potentially led to this moment, including interest-rate adjustments, Apple’s App Tracking Transparency (ATT) initiative choking off web-based ad revenue, and a significant dip in the hardware market. Whatever the causes, though, it’s clear that organizations everywhere are still anxious to find specialized tech talent to help them with vital tasks.
