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The tech job market bounced back in March as the overall economy saw a rise in employment numbers.
Tech jobs platform Heller Search founder and CEO Martha Heller told IT Brew that in her view, reports of the tech industry’s demise have been greatly exaggerated. Warnings of AI leading to job reduction haven’t played out that way, she said; instead, it’s “going to drive job growth.”
“You don’t lay off 10 people and only hire one AI person,” Heller said. “We’re not to the point where AI is doing the work of 10 IT people.”
Rack ‘em. Numbers from the Bureau of Labor Statistics analyzed by CompTIA show that an increase in tech occupations dropped the unemployment rate to 3% from February’s 3.5%. Tech companies added around 6,000 jobs in March, and tech roles increased by 203,000. Positions in the software development and IT support sectors saw the largest increases; there were 191,000 new tech job postings across the economy.
As usual, major metropolitan areas had the most tech jobs available, with New York, Washington, Dallas, Chicago, Los Angeles, and San Francisco leading the pack. As CompTIA noted, some smaller cities posted gains as well, including Boston, Seattle, and Philadelphia.
Removing barriers. Education may not be a barrier, either. According to CompTIA’, 46% of March tech postings didn’t require a four-year degree, including 78% of IT support specialist positions, 66% of network support specialists, 62% of web designers, 53% of network and systems administrators, and 52% of database administrators.
A lower barrier of entry has Heller bullish on the jobs outlook, she told us.
“You read about layoffs at Salesforce, layoffs at Microsoft, and we think technologists are never going to get hired again,” Heller said. “But as we’ve seen in this report, that is not the case.”