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Following the broader economy, tech put the brakes on hiring in July.
Tech job postings declined across almost every aspect of the sector, with software developer and engineer postings dropping more than 10,000, and IT project managers and data scientists both seeing drops of more than 4,000 job listings.
Ups and downs. Employment didn’t fare much better, save for PC and semiconductor manufacturing, which added 300 postings, and IT custom software services and system design, which added 4,000. Despite the overall job numbers decline, unemployment in the sector actually went down from June’s 3.7% to 3.2%. The national unemployment rate was 4.3%.
“Although disappointing, the slowdown in hiring is about in line with expectations,” Tim Herbert, CompTIA chief research officer, said in a statement accompanying the report. “Employers continue to weigh a range of factors in shorter term tech hiring while eyeing longer term growth strategies.”
Artificial job-telligence. July’s numbers come amidst a tumultuous tech jobs year full of good news and bad, largely mirroring national trends. But in tech, the role of AI is having a greater impact. While some companies like Amazon are raising the bar for their software hires, AI is helping to upskill and train workers.
A July 31 report from the AI-Enabled ICT Workforce Consortium, a Cisco-led group of large employers in the tech space like Google, Microsoft, Indeed, and others, shows the way that AI is changing and potentially enhancing workers in the ICT, or information and communication technology, space.
AI’s impact on the job market and the different roles people are taking on across the economy is an important focus for the members of the consortium, who are committing to “unlocking worker potential with AI adoption.” That means getting workers up to snuff on how their jobs are going to change with the new technology—and ensuring they can adapt to the new economy.
“Across the Consortium member companies, we have made it our collective responsibility to train and upskill 95 million people over the next 10 years,” Cisco chief people, policy, and purpose officer Francine Katsoudas said in a statement.