WSJ: Tech Jobs Have Dried Up—and Aren’t Coming Back Soon

Tech Jobs Have Dried Up—and Aren’t Coming Back Soon

Katherine Bindley and Joseph Pisani Wall Street Journal

September 20, 2024

US tech firms have shed about 137,000 jobs since January 2024 and software development job postings are down 30% from the start of 2020, as companies focus on revenue-generating products and services, and rely more heavily on global talent.

Postings for software development jobs are down more than 30% since February 2020, according to Indeed.com. Industry layoffs have continued this year with tech companies shedding around 137,000 jobs since January, according to Layoffs.fyi. Company strategies are also shifting. Instead of growth at all costs and investment in moonshot projects, tech firms have become laser focused on revenue-generating products and services. At the same time, they started putting enormous resources into AI. The release of ChatGPT in late 2022 offered a glimpse into generative AI’s ability to create humanlike content and potentially transform industries. Workers with expertise in the field are among the few strong categories. [An unemployed tech recruiter] says most of the jobs he’s applying for are paying a third less than what they used to. What irks him is that tech companies have rebounded financially but some of them are relying on more consultants and are outsourcing roles. “Covid proved remote works, and now it’s opened up the job market for globalization in that sense,” he says.