Technology jobs tumbled from the top of Indeed's 2024 Best Jobs list, as healthcare and engineering positions overtook the most sought after roles.
Just one tech role, data engineer, landed in the top 10 at No. 10, thanks to an average yearly salary of $130,035. By comparison, technology commanded a half dozen roles in the company's top 10 best jobs for 2023. Job posts for data engineers increased 2% year over year.
The annual list tracks demand and compensation for jobs that have an average base salary of at least $75,000. At least 10% of postings include remote or hybrid working provisions. Roles are also ranked by the number of positions on its jobs board for every million total postings.
The drop-off of tech jobs in the list followed a similar dynamic to the one that shaped tech hiring in recent years. Employers spent years hiring as many tech workers as they could find, a trend that unfolded as economic conditions soured.
The rapid hiring push opened new job opportunities offering high pay and flexible work arrangements, said Scott Dobroski, career trend expert at Indeed, in an email. However, the hiring spree later gave way to layoffs and investment cuts in the tech sector.
Tech jobs tumbled on Indeed's best jobs list for 2024
Demand is expected to bounce back in 2024, driven by ongoing technology adoption and modernization interest across industries.
“Despite the ongoing pattern of mixed signals in the labor market tracking data, the optimistic outlook continues to hold,” said Tim Herbert, chief research officer at IT trade group CompTIA, in a report published earlier this month, pointing to a rebound in tech industry hiring.
Unemployment among IT positions remained far behind national averages during every month in 2023, despite a slight uptick in December.
"Tech roles are still an integral part of every industry, however they are primarily unavailable right now, and extra competitive, with top talent currently holding those positions," said Dobroski in an email. "Simply, tech dropped off the 2024 Best Jobs list because those roles have already been filled.”
Long term outlook
Specific skills within technology remain out of balance: there's not enough talent to match the roles that remain unfilled today.
AI and automation, rising areas of enterprise interest in recent years, are prime examples. While technology leaders show bold adoption ambitions, the talent just isn't there.
AI and automation skills sit among the top nine in-demand clusters of skills, according to a Randstad report. The company assessed the skills most demanded by enterprises across six different dimensions and 23 global markets.
Among jobs requiring expertise in AI infrastructure and tools, nearly 6% of roles are vacant, and other AI-related categories such as natural language processing report vacancy rates of nearly 11%, according to the firm.
To overcome the gaps, most executives plan to increase their investments in talent and skills building, Capgemini data show. Nearly 3 in 5 leaders see the gaping talent mismatch as a top business risk.
Further pushing tech demand forward is the need of those skills to execute on automation projects that are expected to deliver productivity boosts.
"The transformative impact of AI is poised to revolutionize the professional landscape, affecting billions globally and reshaping conventional work paradigms," said Dobroski.
