Information Technology – Jobs. Trends. Insight.

IT Hiring Demand Robust in October – Trending up 4.9% per Month (update)

By Charles Thibault on November 9, 2009 in Computer/Math/IT, Hiring Demand Indicators.

Hiring Demand for "Computer and Mathematical Occupations" grew by 6.5% in October on a seasonally unadjusted basis according to data from WANTED Analytics 2.0. This confirms the positive trend we saw begin in June, when Hiring Demand starting growing at an average monthly rate of 4.9%. This positive trend has affected most US metro areas.

WANTED Analytics tracks the number of online job ads on over 1,000 employment websites:

Source: WANTED Analytics

IT Hiring Demand grew faster than the rest of the economy – national Hiring Demand, all Occupations considered, grew by 4.0% over the same period. Removing the positive effect that IT workers had on the national average, national Hiring Demand grew by only 3.3%. (In other words, IT occupations contributed 0.7% to the overall growth in national Hiring Demand).

The table below details changes in Hiring Demand by occupation. Occupations are defined by the Bureau of Labor Statistics and their Standard Occupational Classification (SOC) System. Five occupations saw increases in Hiring Demand, while three saw drops. Drops were concentrated in "Computer Software Engineers", both "Applications" and "Systems Software".

SOC	SOC Description	Percent Change, OCT (NSA)
000000	All Occupations	4.0%
150000	Computer and Mathematical Occupations	6.5%
151071	Network and Computer Systems Administrators	9.5%
151021	Computer Programmers	9.1%
151061	Database Administrators	7.9%
151081	Network Systems and Data Communications Analysts	7.7%
151041	Computer Support Specialists	5.7%
151051	Computer Systems Analysts	-1.2%
151031	Computer Software Engineers, Applications	-5.9%
151032	Computer Software Engineers, Systems Software	-27.0%

What's more, IT Hiring Demand is growing faster now than it did during the "boom times" of 2006/2007. The following table and weekly time series chart, where the count of online job ads is taken as a natural log to facilitate trending analysis, clearly shows this:

Period	Monthly Growth Rate
Oct.2006 – June 2008	+1.2%
July 2008 – May 2009	-6.5%
June 2009 – Current	+4.9%

IT Hiring Demand Improves 1.1%

By Charles Thibault on September 29, 2009 in Computer/Math/IT, Hiring Demand Indicators.

Hiring Demand for Computer and Mathematical Occupations has improved 1.1% over the past month, according to data from WANTED Analytics.

There are still 117,000 fewer online job ads for Computer and Mathematical workers compared to a year ago – a drop of 38.7%. However, a month ago, the year-over-year decline stood at 39.8%. This relative improvement of 1.1% is a simple way of controlling for seasonal fluctuations. Over the same period, National Hiring Demand for all occupations improved by 2.9%.

Source: WANTED Analytics

The following double-bar chart compares September's year-over-year drop (burgundy) to August's (gray). Burgundy bars that are shorter than gray ones indicate relative improvement since last month. The chart can be enlarged by clicking on it.

Click chart to view full size

Several occupations are worth noting.

IT Hiring Demand Down 2.3% in August, Networking Workers Hit Hardest

By Charles Thibault on September 1, 2009 in Computer/Math/IT, Hiring Demand Indicators.

Hiring Demand for Information Technology workers has dropped 2.3% since mid-July, according to data from WANTED Analytics. This fall occurs after an upswing started in the spring. National Hiring Demand dropped 0.7% over the same period.

Source: WANTED Analytics

The following bar chart compares the year-over-year percent changes from July 2009 to those in August 2009. Burgundy columns extending past the gray columns means that there are sharper year-over-year losses compared to last month.

All IT occupations have lost more ground than the national average.

Click chart to view full size

IT Occupations Slip 5.7% in July

By Charles Thibault on July 27, 2009 in Computer/Math/IT, Hiring Demand Indicators.

Hiring Demand for IT Occupations slipped 5.7% on a year-over-year basis compared to last month. Nine of the ten IT occupations classified by the Bureau of Labor Statistics showed decline.

Compared to last year, Hiring Demand for IT occupations is down 35.7%. It was down only 30% last month. "Network Systems and Data Communications Analysts", which had been relatively spared so far, saw the largest relative drop in Hiring Demand, falling 9% to -18.2% compared to a year ago.

Click chart to view full size