It’s often said that the only constant is change.
Along with the rapid pace of technological change and shifting economic winds, demand for some professions has increased, while demand for others has waned… or even disappeared completely. Does anyone remember switchboard operators?
With this in mind, as computing technology continues to evolve amid uncertain times, here’s the question IT professionals in Spiceworks want to know the answer to: What does the future hold for the IT job market, and how does that affect me?
The US Bureau of Labor Statistics (BLS) publishes 10-year employment projections across a huge range of professions. At the time of this writing, this government organization had published job growth/contraction predictions for the time period between 2022 and 2032.
Overall, the BLS predicts 3% growth across all US occupations, with employment jumping from 164.5 million jobs in 2022 to a projected 169.1 million in 2032.
Of course, some industries are predicted to fare worse than others. For example, the number of jobs in the retail trade industry is projected to contract by 3% between 2022 and 2032. Luckily for members of the Spiceworks IT Community, the number of jobs in computer occupations is expected to grow 14% over the same 10-year period.
However, specific IT jobs are predicted to be more in demand than others. For example, amid ever-growing cybersecurity threats, the number of US-based information security analyst jobs is expected to grow by a whopping 31.5% between 2022 and 2032.
During the same period, senior-level employees are expected to be more in demand than their more junior counterparts in similar roles: The number of jobs for computer programmers (who write and modify computer code) is expected to contract by -11.5% by 2032, while demand for software developers (who are more responsible for the overall design of applications) is expected to increase by 26%. Additionally, employment of database architects is expected to grow by 10% compared to 7% growth among database administrators.
Other in-demand IT professions expected to see double-digit growth include software quality assurance analysts and testers (20%), web developers (17%), and web and digital interface designers (15%).
Notably, employment of IT supervisors, which the BLS calls “computer and information systems managers,” is expected to grow at a brisk 15% by 2032. Still, job growth is expected to be slower among IT support staff roles.
Employment Growth Projections (2022-2032) for IT Jobs in the US
Overall, growth in the IT field is expected to outpace growth in other fields. However, demand for specific roles within IT is expected to be uneven, with demand for security, software development, QA, and management roles poised to grow significantly.
