While hiring in the overall economy appears to be slowing, computer science majors graduating with the Class of 2023 are in demand at companies across industry sectors.
That’s the word from the National Association of Colleges and Employers (NACE). Results of its Job Outlook 2023 Spring Update survey show employers plan to hire 3.9% more graduates from the Class of 2023 than they did from the Class of 2022. While results of the survey are positive, they are down from earlier projections: In the fall, employers projected a 14.7% increase.
More than one-third of employers plan to increase hires and more than half will maintain hiring levels, while about 12% expect to trim college hiring. These expectations also have shifted from 2022, when more than half planned to increase hires and less than 6% planned to decrease college hires.
Hiring varies among industry. Employers in the information industry, for example, planned to hire almost 87% more new grads at this time last year; now they project a decrease in hiring of almost 17%. Similarly, last year, computer and electronics manufacturers planned to increase hires by more than 41%; although still positive, that projection is now 19.1% for the Class of 2023.
“Despite these shifts, this market is promising for graduates,” says Shawn VanDerziel, Executive Director at NACE. “And there is still ample opportunity for tech graduates to use their skills in other industries. For example, our Winter 2023 Salary Survey report found that two-thirds of responding employers—across industries—are planning to hire computer sciences majors from the current class. They are still in high demand.”
Daniel Voloch, Chief Program Officer at Girls Who Code doesn’t want talk around layoffs at tech companies to dissuade students from entering the workforce. “Working in the tech industry can mean so many different things, and that can mean working in health care, art or government,” he says. “They can take all of the skills and experiences that they’ve been developing and apply it to a career in tech, even if it’s not at one of the big tech companies.”
Overall for Tech Jobs, a Mixed Bag
Tech companies increased overall staffing by 18,795 positions in April, the largest volume of monthly hiring since August 2022, CompTIA’s analysis of U.S. Bureau of Labor Statistics Jobs Report data reveal. New hiring of technology infrastructure, manufacturing and services workers led the growth, according to CompTIA’s Tech Jobs Report.
Tech occupations throughout the economy, however, took a step back, declining by 99,000 positions. The unemployment rate for tech occupations inched up to 2.3%, still well below the national unemployment rate (3.4%).
“It was another all-too-familiar month of mixed labor market signals,” says Tim Herbert, Chief Research Officer at CompTIA. “The surprisingly strong tech sector employment gains were offset by the pause in tech hiring across the economy.”
Employers listed more than 300,000 job postings for tech positions in April, signaling demand for tech talent continues to hold up.
Roles employers continue to fill include:
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IT services and custom software development (+12,700)
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Cloud infrastructure, data processing and hosting (+7,300)
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PC, semiconductor and components manufacturing (+3,200)
Employer job postings for tech positions were widely dispersed geographically and by industry. Employers in administrative and support (32,861), finance and insurance (32,820) and manufacturing (31,959) were among the most active last month. Among metro areas, Washington, New York City, Dallas, Los Angeles and Chicago had the highest volumes of job postings. Dallas, Houston, Philadelphia, Boston and Seattle saw the largest month-over-month increases in tech job postings.