IT Unemployment Hits 6% ***THERE IS NO SHORTAGE OF US TECH WORKERS!!!***

[uponit7771]

IT Unemployment Hits 6% Amid Overall U.S. Jobs Growth

https://www.wsj.com/articles/it-unemployment-hits-6-amid-overall-u-s-jobs-growth-bc2f2915

The unemployment rate for information-technology workers rose to 6% in August, up from 5.6% the prior month as the boom in artificial intelligence continued to drastically alter the tech landscape.

In August, there were 148,000 unemployed IT workers, more than the 145,000 in July, according to consulting firm Janco Associates, which based its findings on data from the U.S. Department of Labor. The IT unemployment rate has been above the national jobless rate for seven of the last eight months, Janco found. On Friday, the Bureau of Labor Statistics said the national jobless rate ticked down to 4.2% in August as the economy added 142,000 jobs.


This is MAGA eating its own face and this is NOT going away, I want to add EMPIRICAL information related to corporatist lies about IT labor in the US.

[dalton99a]

1. "Learn to code, so we can give your job to an Indian"

[TheBlackAdder]

14. There's a shortage of tech workers willing to work 70-80hr weeks for a ketamine-infused sociopath.

All while being paid a 35-hour work week salary.


That's why they want hungry foreign labor. People desperate for a job and a desire to move to the USA. If they have to sell out their life for a 4,000 hour a year 6-7 day job, so be it. That's the people they want. Someone they can abuse and who they can place under their thumb for the fear of deportation.

[gab13by13]

2. AI is going to take over more than IT jobs.

[uponit7771]

6. Disagree, the cotton gin didn't make humans less needed. AI can not engineer

[gab13by13]

26. My daughter is CFO of a small company

and she told me that she could be replaced by AI. If a CFO can be replaced there are few limitations.

You can go on line and ask AI to write an essay written on a specific topic and write it at a 5th grade level and it will do it.

My daughter is also involved in an extracurricular school activity and she had AI write up the fund raising letter that she used for donations.

[FalloutShelter]

3. AI is killing the arts too

https://www.indiewire.com/news/business/jeffrey-katzenberg-ai-will-take-90-percent-animation-jobs-1234924809/

[uponit7771]

7. It's not AI, its cheap labor. AI can't engineer

[Johnny2X2X]

4. IT is a small part if tech jobs

Yeah. If you’re an IT specialist, probably time to learn some additional skills. But most IT people are probably already working on that as they’re usually pretty in tune with trends.

And the article is 3 months old.

A lot of IT work is being automated, that’s going to accelerate.

[uponit7771]

9. Its cheap labor, AI can't engineer that's left up to humans

[Johnny2X2X]

12. Yeah

And IT is a pretty broad descriptor. There are “IT workers” answering questions at Helpdesk for normal users. And then there are systems engineers for large data centers who will tell you they’re in IT. And a lot in between.

I think there are a lot of 2 year programs and 16 week certifications that people in IT get to get started. If that’s where they stopped they have problems.

Software engineering is also a lot more than just learning to code, but I am seeing a lot of software people learning cyber and product security, or systems engineering. And of course the first people to adapt to AI will be the engineers.

[jimfields33]

5. My nephew works at Schwab and enjoys it.

He majored in information technology and graduated in 2023. My other nephew graduated in 2022 and is a project manager for Ryan homes. And the other is an electrician. Jobs are out there.

[uponit7771]

10. The IT UE rate for the country is in the dumps while MAGA is asking for more visas for cheaper labor, MAGA is eating its

... own face and tech bros are going to have the longest teeth on this issue.

Tech workers need to unionize but unfortunately its too washed with MAGA minded

[yardwork]

13. The sexist bro culture is strong. They revere Musk.

Musk wants his undesired servants with work visas who can't escape his abusive employment practices.

[LisaM]

18. This, plus 1000%.

People really underestimate what a bro world tech is. I live in Seattle and see this first hand all the time.

[yardwork]

20. I've read about it, and my sons tell me.

[BoRaGard]

8. "You ain't seen nuttin yet, suckers." - G.O.P. Billionaire Bros, Inc.

[liberal N proud]

11. At one time, you could work anywhere you want in IT

[uponit7771]

16. Yep, 6% unemployment in IT is 50% higher than national UE rate and that's crazy and MAGA is now arguing they hate IT ...

... people anyway and that's about all they have for this.

I'm online talking to these people and their mental gymnastics on this subject is CRAZY !!!

LOFL !!!

IT MAGA eyes are falling out over this ...

[liberal N proud]

22. Their mental gymnastics on any subject is crazy

[dalton99a]

15. .

Joblessness for IT workers is at its worst since the dot-com bubble burst in the early 2000s, said Victor Janulaitis, Janco’s chief executive. And this time the culprit is AI, he said, which is causing “seismic change” comparable to that seen when personal computers came into wide use.

For software development and IT support, job postings are about 30% fewer than they were before the pandemic, said Nick Bunker, an economist at jobs site Indeed. High-income sectors like technology are also experiencing slower pay growth, Indeed’s wage data shows.

“If you’re someone looking for a job in that space, there are fewer opportunities than there were pre-Covid, and definitely far fewer opportunities than there were in late 2021 when that labor market was red-hot,” Bunker said.

Among the big tech companies announcing layoffs last month, Cisco Systems said it planned to cut its workforce by 7%, or about 6,000 employees. Chip maker Intel also said it would lay off 15,000 employees this year and pause dividends as part of a cost-cutting effort. In July, Intuit said it planned to eliminate about 1,800 employees as it prepares for a hiring spree in its pivot toward AI.

IT workers are also being laid-off elsewhere: General Motors said last month it is cutting more than a thousand employees globally in its software and services division.

[uponit7771]

17. but ... but .... there's a "shortage" says every damn corporatist.

[woodsprite]

19. My husband and I work in higher ed.

I do web development and he does enterprise systems management for dbas, student, hr, and financials. Our shops were pretty small in comparison to other universities our size. My group lost 2 web developers, a associate director, and 1 programmer. We now are down to 2 web developers and 1 manager (a webdev promoted to manager and given the assoc director's duties) and 7 various level programmers. Hubby's groups went down to 2 programmers supporting each group (down from 3 or 4). They are not planning on posting any of those jobs. Our VP (ex-military) and new director believe we can always do more with less and plan on only promoting from within if at all possible.

It's frustrating because they don't want users to wait, but with only 2 of us (one working mainly payment forms creation and support and the other doing systems work and support) there is not a lot of wiggle room. Our manager needs to cover for us if we're out. They did add a QA position, but that person can't code or program or provide customer support to help with coverage, so the are just doing testing.

My daughter is in retail, not IT, and they have the same problem. Her store is able to be open and function with only 2 full-time workers and a manager. They share 1 part-time person with another store. Their store is open 7am-6pm M-Sat, and 9am-5pm on Sunday. And they get reprimanded if they work over 40hrs. To say they are spread very thin is an understatement. She lost the remainder of the vacation she had scheduled, not due to her fault, but because her co-worker's mother passed away last week. To allow her to take the time off for funeral planning, dealing with the estate issues, etc., our daughter's vacation was cancelled and lost because they don't allow roll-over. Since they're functional, they've been told that they won't be hiring another full time person.

[nilram]

27. I would so look for another job

If I were your daughter. For them not to make an exception in policy (rolling over vacation) when there was an exceptional situation is unconscionable.

[mnhtnbb]

21. My oldest son's partner

was laid off from his QA job in IT last April. He finally was hired right before Thanksgiving for a QA job. He will continue to work from home, but will have to make quarterly visits to the corporate HQ in Nashville, Tennessee from where he lives in Cary, NC. He was required to go for a final in person interview in Nashville before he was offered the job.

[uponit7771]

23. WOW !! This is not going away, the people who made or run the internet isn't going to let it and Vivek's overt racism ..

... against white people isn't going to help put out the flames.

The racist crap they're throwing at each other on KKK ... er uh, X is gob smacking

[Attilatheblond]

24. But US born tech workers can move to different companies to work

Don't those special tech visas mean the workers have to stay with the company they came here to work for? IOW, indentured servants for all intents & purposes?

[uponit7771]

25. Yep, and Musk knows their visa has to be sponsored so oligarchs like him treat those works like 100% crap

[Renew Deal]

30. More or less, yes.

It's very restrictive and people with these visa's have to find other companies that will sponsor them. Companies with H1B workers exploit this, knowing that it's hard for workers to get new jobs, and with the threat of them having to leave the country.

[nilram]

28. There's a shortage of employers willing to retrain

or at least be patient with professionals that don't have the exact skill set that the company uses.

[Renew Deal]

29. It's not just about the number of workers

It's about the number of people that have the skills needed now. This is not meant to justify H1B's, but people with advanced tech skills (AI, Security, Data Science, Cloud) are in high demand.

[nilram]

31. It's about employers thinking they want

skills A, B, and C refusing anyone with skills A, B, and Z, even though skills C and Z are directly transferable. It's likely going to take longer to learn the employers problem set rather than a new tool's syntax.