July 2024
Jobs Report
Methodology
To present the insights in this report, Dice used job posting data provided by Dice’s partner, Lightcast, which has a database of more than 1 billion current and historical job postings worldwide. Dice pulled data on July 8, 2024 and analyzed over 7 million tech job postings in the U.S. to gather our specific dataset, which we then filtered for “Information Technology” jobs that fall under “Full Time,” “Part Time” and “Flexible Hours.” We gathered the list of top employers in the “Industry Analysis” section by using the above criteria, with an additional filter for job postings that only derive from employer sites. The information in this report is a snapshot of tech job posting data as of July 8, 2024, and backward revisions to prior month’s data may occur from the sources used in this report.
How are Tech Jobs Faring in the Hiring Market?
Tech job postings this June are 15% below where they were last June, and tech unemployment has reached 3.7%, an unusual high for the industry. However, in light of these difficult headwinds, and in the context of 2024 so far, the tech job market is showing some optimistic growth. Tech hiring in June was at its second highest level this year, landing just beneath an optimistic jump we saw in May.
Additionally, Artificial Intelligence (AI) and Machine Learning (ML) hiring is continuing to show notable growth, jumping 43% between May and June, the largest hike seen yet. AI and ML jobs postings took up 27% of the overall tech job market in June. The skill "artificial intelligence", though broad and fairly unspecific, has increased 83% month over month as well, pointing to the fact that in addition to AI specific roles increasing in demand, mentions of "artificial intelligence" on all tech job postings are increasing dramatically.
Where are Tech Job Postings Concentrated?
Consulting was hiring for the most tech jobs in June by far, at three times the rate of the second ranked industry, Software. Consistent with the data we are seeing here, the Division of Labor (DOL) reports that the number of employees currently in seats in the consulting field grew 2.1% month-over-month from May to June. This growth is unsurprising, as they also predict that the industry will add 1.6 million jobs overall by 2028.
California has been a hot tech hiring market for a long time, making up 11% of the total US tech hiring market in June. However, four metro areas (Washington DC, New York City, Dallas and Chicago) outranked California's top hiring metro area, San Francisco. We also saw that San Francisco posted significantly more tech jobs in June than it did in May, by a margin of 20%. When comparing June of this year to June of 2023, Seattle saw the most growth, showing a 31% change year-over-year.
Who Are Companies Hiring Right Now?
The most common job title on the market in June was Software Engineer, followed by Business Analyst, Electrical Engineer, Data Scientist, and Data Engineer. Software Engineering Managers, ranked 25th on the list, saw the most month-over-month growth, at 57%. Comparing June 2024 to June 2023, Machine Learning Engineer job postings had the biggest positive difference with an increase of 85%. Software Development Engineers were close behind at 82%.
Soft skills like communication, management, problem solving, leadership and project management are always going to be important for tech jobs, and all made the top ten skills most commonly mentioned on tech job postings.
With the influx of AI-related job postings, it is unsurprising to see skills such as "artificial intelligence" and "machine learning" show such increases in demand between last June and this June. Also notable: 22% more job postings mentioned security clearances in June compared to May of 2024.