Job Market On Fire for IT Pros

The IT job market is on a roll, with nearly 63,000 new jobs added in the the last 12 months and a projection that almost 83,000 new jobs will be added in 2018.

That’s according to Janco Associates‘ latest forecast for new IT jobs in 2018. The median salary for all IT professionals is now just shy of $91,000.

“The impact of the a rapidly recovering economy is driving a significant increase in demand for IT professionals as more organizations are expanding the use of e-commerce and blockchain applications,” said Janco CEO Victor Janulaitis. “CIOs have the green light to expand budgets and staffing. The prospects for a trade war have not yet had an impact on those plans. Overall we hear that regulations like the General Data Protection Regulation (GDPR) for the EU and cyberattacks are driving the demand for more individuals in security roles and development for mobile-device applications which enhance security and processing of internet-based transactions.”

The IT sector added an estimated 8,700 new jobs in May, according to CompTIA’s analysis of Friday’s Bureau of Labor Statistics Employment Situation report. The growth occurred in three categories: IT services, custom software development and computer system design (6,600 jobs); computer, electronics and semiconductor manufacturing (2,200); and other information services, including search portals (2,200).

Shedding jobs last month were telecommunications – down 1,900 – and data processing, hosting and related services, down 400.

“As one of the largest industry sectors in the U.S. economy, technology continues to extend its reach in terms of employment and economic impact,” said Tim Herbert, CompTIA’s senior vice president for research and market intelligence. “While the ongoing shifts to as-a-service and software-centered models are evident in the data, hardware and infrastructure remain vital components of the tech ecosystem.”

Janco’s 2018 Mid-Year Salary Survey, which will be released in the next few days, shows that the median salary for all IT professionals is up almost 4.4 percent from the same time last year.

“With 15,700 net new IT jobs in the last three months, we believe that many IT pros who have stayed with their companies through the last several years will begin to look for new and better opportunities,” Janulaitis said. “IT staff attrition rates will be a major concern for many CIOs and IT managers.”

A good example of the increased demand for IT pros is the demand for information security analysts with many working on GDPR and security complaince issues, he said.

“In our review of over 104 large and midsize organizations, we found that fully one-third are not yet compliant with GDPR, which is required to be in place by the end of May,” Janulaitis said. “With the increased dependence on the internet and cloud processing, the exposure that enterprises face can only be mitigated by filling that role with qualified individuals. As a result, salaries for experienced information security analysts and the newly required position of data protection officer (for GDPR) are skyrocketing and are well over $100,000.”

Most of the C-level executives Janco has interviewed are expecting a booming economy.

“They are planning for extensive growth and expansion,” Janulaitis said. “The only part of the IT job market that is not doing well is that of telecommunications sector, which has lost over 20,900 jobs in the last 12 months.”