US IT talent shortage halts job growth rate
Only 4,000 technology-related jobs were opened in the United States (US) last month as tech talent shortage continues in the country, said IT and engineering staffing body TechServe Alliance.
According to TechServe Alliance’s report, this is a sequential increase of only 0.08% to 5,412,300 jobs in the sector. On a year-on-year (y-o-y) basis, IT employment was up 2.35% in January 2021, adding 124,400 tech workers.
Meanwhile, engineering employment grew by 0.15% sequentially to 2,666,200. On a y-o-y basis, engineering jobs grew by 3.61% since January 2021, adding 92,900 engineering workers.
TechServe Alliance CEO Mark Roberts said that although demand for IT professionals is strong, “many critical job roles stay open for extended periods of time requiring extraordinary recruiting efforts to attract candidates.”
To address this problem, Roberts explained that companies have to understand that remote and hybrid work policies are important for applicants.
He added that organizations have to “revise their compensation structure” to attract and retain their IT workforce.
