If the software developer deficit in the U.S. continues to worsen, the economy might lose out on $162 billion in potential output. Business growth and digital transformation are difficult without fresh talent, further widening the demand/supply gap for I.T. professionals.
Statistics on U.S. Tech Talent Shortage in 2022
ManpowerGroup’s report on the U.S. labor market found that 69% of U.S. companies had trouble filling vacancies in 2020 due to a lack of qualified candidates. The I.T. industry has some of the most difficult-to-fill occupations.
The American tech industry has felt the effects of the pandemic’s worldwide recession. It strengthens the demand for tech workers while fueling the country’s digitization operations. A growing number of firms are shifting more work to the cloud, and the demand for qualified I.T. professionals is not keeping up with the supply. This is especially true as the use of machine learning technology expands rapidly.
At 13.2%, the I.T. industry in the United States has the highest attrition rate. It is a significant component that slows the growth of the U.S. technology market. Furthermore, high turnover is expensive for businesses as they must spend between 50 and 250% of the employee’s previous wage to hire a successor.
By 2026, the United States will be almost 1.2 million engineers short, according to the Bureau of Labor Statistics, while the same year will see the departure of 545 thousand software developers.
Software developer salaries have skyrocketed due to the severe developer scarcity, making I.T. the highest-paying industry. In the United States, the typical annual salary of a computer programmer is well over $100,000. This figure is more than double the national median in some regions.
Due to a lack of qualified candidates, many companies are forced to shift the burden of filling their open tech positions onto their existing staff, which severely affects morale and productivity. Indeed, over 30 percent of its survey respondents blamed this problem for contributing to high turnover rates.
Only 29.4% of applicants for software architect roles and 39.6% for DevOps job vacancies fully fulfill employers’ expectations, highlighting companies’ need to make concessions to close the I.T. skills deficit gap. More than half of organizations hire I.T. workers despite a mismatch between requirements and actual talents, leading to lower product and service quality.
State of the International Labor Shortage
The scarcity of skilled workers is expected to reach 85.2 million worldwide by 2030. Without enough qualified workers, businesses worldwide might lose $8.4 trillion in sales.
Since software now underpins 90% of typical business processes, the dearth of qualified I.T. professionals is a major contributor to this issue.
The growing global skill gap is mostly caused by shifts in the global economy and the technological landscape. A recent survey found that 87 percent of businesses face a skills shortage or anticipate one within the next few years.
For instance, the lack of software developers is already an issue in the Nordics, with Sweden forecasting 70 thousand software developers and digital specialists short by the end of 2022.
The skills gap and the I.T. talent deficit will most likely disrupt the data analytics, I.T., mobile, and/or web design industries.
Many businesses are already making efforts to solve the talent shortage. Over the past five years, employing developers on a contract or freelance basis has been the most common strategy for meeting talent demands. Skill development through various reskilling programs is another approach to dealing with the shortage of talent.
Companies in a bind would also do well to reevaluate their methods of attracting and retaining top people, including pay and benefits, as well as any internal educational programs they may offer. Internal staff can benefit greatly from up-to-date training possibilities to improve their abilities and meet the demands of today’s technological landscape.
A force for transformation, the Great Resignation, has emerged. Employees can now negotiate the salary and benefits, while employers must change to remain competitive.
Does the United States need software engineers?
Forbes and the U.S. Bureau of Labor Statistics predict a 22 percent increase in demand for qualified engineers between 2019 and 2029.
The U.S. Talent Gap – Where Do We Stand?
- Inadequate C.S. Education
The talent shortage is a problem that can mostly be addressed through education. However, education is also a major problem: insufficient students are prepared for professions in technology, and only around 13% of high schools offer advanced computer science courses. Eighty-eight percent of educators recognize that computer science is essential to their students’ future success because 77% of employment in the next decade will require tech abilities.
Only over a third of teachers say they provide computer science education to their students. The main causes of subpar C.S. education in primary schools are a lack of supplementary educational programs and insufficient budget.
2) Extremely Stringent Requirements for Applicants
Companies would rather hire experienced software engineers, but they often place unrealistic expectations on prospective employees in their haste to do so. Although the fields of artificial intelligence (A.I.), machine learning (ML), and data science are making great strides forward, they are still in their infancy. Since this is the case, finding suitably qualified individuals in the United States software development employment market is difficult.
- Limited In-Service Training
When companies don’t provide enough opportunities for employees to advance their skills, those workers will look elsewhere. Dissatisfied workers often opt to switch their growth sector, putting firms at risk of losing individual and aggregate I.T. expertise.
- Unreasonably High Salary Expectations
Simply said, the majority of experienced computer programmers are expensive. Despite the demand for senior developers, many companies cannot fill their positions. Few developers will lower their sights and settle for less lucrative deals. As a result, businesses frequently hire developers who lack the necessary expertise for existing projects, or they are unable to discover any suitable candidates at all.
