Are employers less interested in hiring for remote positions?

The latest CompTIA job report suggests that companies are still hiring many thousands of all-remote technologist jobs—but the number of those jobs declined noticeably between June and July, despite a dip in the overall tech unemployment rate. Here’s the breakdown:

There are a couple of ways to unpack this data. First, you can’t discount the impact of seasonal shifts; some employers hire less in the summer months, which could lead to a dip in job postings for remote work. However, overall hiring activity for many roles (such as systems engineer/architect and network engineer) and tech segments (such as PC, semiconductor, and components manufacturing) climbed month-over-month.

Second, the economic uncertainty—and fears of recession—are leading some companies to slow down their hiring for both remote and in-office roles; in that light, a month-over-month decline in all-remote openings isn’t a reflection of companies turning away from remote work so much as executives fearful over their budgets.

It’s important to emphasize, however, that tech hiring remains strong. According to CompTIA’s latest analysis of data from the U.S. Bureau of Labor Statistics (BLS), “tech occupations across all industry sectors increased by an estimated 239,000 positions in July.” Tech industry employment has increased by 143,700 jobs in 2022—a year-over-year increase of 55 percent.

Among employers, there’s a significant debate right now over the viability of all-remote work. Some prominent companies (such as Airbnb) have wholeheartedly embraced the practice, while others (and we’re looking at you, Tesla) have advocated bringing everyone back to the office as soon as possible. But for technologists everywhere, there are clear benefits to working remotely, including more scheduling flexibility and the ability to focus without distractions. In addition, there are signs that remote work could help close the “geography gap” in tech-related salaries.