News

October 20, 2016

Linium Index of High-Tech Hiring Forecasts Continued Strength in Technology Job Market

Employers are bullish about the Capital Region’s technology job market, with both optimism and hiring expectations remaining high, but a skills gap continues to make recruiting and hiring a challenge, according to the latest Linium Index of High-Tech Hiring released today.

The region’s leading recruiter for technology-based positions, Linium surveyed 100 hiring and human resource managers at companies throughout the area – 52 with more than 100 employees and 48 with fewer than 100 – between September 13 and 29. The Fall 2016 Linium Index provides the first year-over-year assessment of the area’s technology job market. Full results are below, attached, and can be found here.

Tech workforces will either remain steady or grow in the 4^th quarter, according to 98 percent of employers, which is identical to last year – though the number planning to add jobs dipped slightly from 63 to 51 percent. Expectations for high-tech job growth over the next year remained strong, with 72 percent of employers either optimistic or very optimistic, nearly the same as 77 percent in 2015. And, 65 percent of employers said the Capital Region’s economy, including high tech, was either better or much better than the nation’s – on par with last year’s 69 percent, and sharply higher than 42 percent from the previous quarter.

Filling tech jobs, however, continues to be difficult. Seventy percent of employers characterized recruiting and hiring as either challenging or a significant challenge, similar to last year’s 75 percent. The skills gap remains the biggest challenge – though it fell from 52 percent a year ago to 34 percent this year – followed by corporate finances, overall business climate, and health care costs, which at 12 percent were the highest since the survey began.

“The Capital Region’s technology job market should finish the year strong, continuing the momentum we’ve seen over the past year,” said Miriam Dushane, Managing Director, Upstate New York for Linium Recruiting. “That’s the good news. The challenge is that too many employers are being held back by a skills gap that limits the availability of qualified employees. It’s vital for the region to work collaboratively to address that issue.”

The Fall 2016 Linium Index also showed that information technology jobs are again the most in demand, with 66 percent of employers citing IT as the fastest-growing field – up from 54 percent last year, and 46 percent the previous quarter. Within IT, the biggest opportunities were again seen in development jobs, including web, software and applications, cited by 42 percent of employers. Demand for infrastructure positions, including hardware, networking, security, and support, rose to 31 percent, up from 20 percent last year.

The Linium Index is designed to help companies better understand the technology job market, and to assist hiring managers in developing strategies to recruit and retain a highly skilled workforce. The next quarterly index will be released in January 2017.