The constant drumbeat of tech layoff news might lead you to think companies have stopped hiring tech professionals completely. However, new data suggests nothing could be further from the truth—while some of the largest companies in tech have indeed cut back on hiring, hiring managers everywhere are still doing their best to source the best talent.
CompTIA’s latest Workforce and Learning Trends 2023 report suggests companies are still hiring with an eye toward growth, despite widespread fears that the economy could impact hiring throughout the rest of the year and beyond. “Hiring continues to be driven by the pursuit of cutting-edge skills that can help organizations gain or maintain their competitive edge,” the report added.
A majority of HR professionals responding to CompTIA’s survey “indicated that they were planning to hire to fill new positions or meet the demand for new skills—rather than fill vacated positions or tighten their workforce through layoffs or hiring freezes.” Here’s a deeper breakdown of hiring trends in the United States:
The percentages add up to more than 100 because companies might be hiring for growth in some areas while cutting in others. For example, many companies have reduced their workforces in certain arenas while investing in cutting-edge areas such as machine learning and virtual reality (VR). But the main takeaway is that growth and backfill hiring remains healthy.
Employers are also doing their best to upskill their existing employees to meet the needs of the moment: “Given sustained economic concerns, paired with an unusually strong labor market, many businesses are turning to their existing resources to find or develop the desired skillsets, rather than exclusively trying to attract new external talent. Although skills remain a core focus, flexibility is the new watchword.”
The tech unemployment rate remained steady at 2.2 percent in March, according to the latest U.S. Bureau of Labor Statistics (BLS) data as analyzed by CompTIA. Some of the most in-demand tech professions at the moment include data scientists and analysts, cybersecurity analysts and engineers, software developers and engineers, QA testers, and more. According to HackerEarth’s latest State of the Developer Ecosystem report, recruiters and hiring managers are also struggling to find full-stack developers, machine learning and blockchain experts, among other roles.
