Tech Hiring Stagnation: AI Skills Skyrocket 111% While Overall Tech Employment Remains Flat

Tech Hiring Stagnation: AI Skills Skyrocket 111% While Overall Tech Employment Remains Flat

Technology-related employment activity remained stuck in neutral in December, according to analysis by CompTIA, the leading global provider of vendor-neutral IT training and certifications.

Key Employment Metrics

Tech industry employment was essentially flat, with technology companies reducing staffing by an estimated 1,461 positions last month. Staffing reductions included workers in both technical and non-technical occupations. An estimated 5.3 million people are employed by companies in the tech sector.

Tech occupation employment, which encompasses technology professionals employed in all industry sectors, declined by an estimated 7,000 workers. The unemployment rate for tech occupations dropped to 3.3% in December, compared to the national unemployment rate of 4.4%. More than 6.6 million workers are employed in tech occupations.

Job Postings and AI Demand

Active employer job postings for technology positions totaled nearly 380,000 in December, down about 10,300 from November. Of this figure, employers deployed 162,000 new tech job postings for the month to recruit for positions spanning software, data, systems, infrastructure and AI.

"Stuck is a fitting characterization for a labor market where employers and workers face uncertainty on so many fronts," said Tim Herbert, chief research officer at CompTIA.

The AI Skills Revolution

The data confirms employers continue to increasingly prioritize artificial intelligence (AI) skills among candidates across just about every type of job role. The total volume of active job listings citing an AI skill requirement totaled 94,067 for the month, an increase of 111% year-over-year.

AI's Complex Impact on Workforce

The impact of AI on the tech workforce, and the broader labor market, remains difficult to untangle. Both the direct and indirect effects of AI on employment and hiring are not always apparent in the labor market data. Further clouding the situation is the 64% of companies that acknowledge using AI as cover for staffing decisions, such as hiring freezes or layoffs, according to research from CompTIA.

The same report revealed that among businesses reporting an incidence of replacing staff positions with AI, 48% also moved staff to other positions and another 36% added new staff.

About the Data

The "CompTIA Tech Jobs Report" is available at https://www.comptia.org/en-us/resources/research/tech-jobs-report/.