76 hiring & hr statistics in tech for 2023

While 10.3 million job openings by the end of October 2022 is less than the record 11 million in 2021, the job market is still considerably tight. To keep on the tradition, we’ve compiled the most relevant hiring and job stats for 2023 to help highlight the latest trends.

Deloitte, The World Economic Forum, LinkedIn, PwC, Fortune, Gartner, Salesforce, Forbes, McKinsey, TalentLMS, and the Society for Human Resources Management have helped crunch the numbers.

This high number of job openings during an economic slowdown implies that the labor market may remain tight for some time. Thus, the challenge in 2023 will not be creating new roles but filling the open ones with an insufficient number of high-quality candidates.

The pandemic brought a whole new set of challenges for all facets of every industry. Labor markets shifted towards working from home, and the results have lingered. 58% of Americans report having the opportunity to work from home at least one day a week.

An estimated 144 million jobs were lost globally following COVID-19, yet it’s still a candidate’s market. Acting on candidate experience is one part of the puzzle, but the best organizations are the ones who measure, assess, and improve the current conditions for their employees.

If you want to attract top talent and the right candidates, your hiring strategy should consider these latest recruiting market research findings.

Skills Shortage

1. 85 million jobs will go unfilled globally by 2030 due to skills shortages, resulting in about $8.5 trillion in unrealized annual revenues. (Korn Ferry)

2. 70% of employers in the tech sector anticipate a skills shortage, whilst 24% believe it will significantly impact their recruitment. (Robert Walters)

3. By 2030, Russia and the United States could have a skill shortage of up to 6 million people, and China could face double that. (Robert Walters)

4. More than 65% of EU companies report difficulties finding workers with the appropriate skill set. (EC Europa)

5. The number of tech jobs advertised in the first half of 2021 was 176,818, up from 124,775 in 2019, 42% higher than pre-pandemic levels. (Tech Nation)

6. Tech vacancies now make up 13% of all the UK’s advertised vacancies, compared to 12.3% in 2020. (Tech Nation)

7. Recruiters ranked data literacy as the skill highest in demand for entry-level candidates – but only 48% of academic institutions have data literacy skills initiatives in place. (Forrester)

8. 14 G20 countries could miss out on $11.5 trillion cumulative GDP growth due to the digital skills gap. (RAND/Salesforce)

9. The United States can expect to lose out on $162.25 billion by 2030 due to sector skills shortages. (Korn Ferry)

10. 46% of employees believe their current skill set will become irrelevant by 2024. (Degreed)

11. 86% of business owners and HR executives called employer branding a top priority to face talent disruption. (Universum)

12. 64% of L&D professionals said that reskilling the current workforce to fill skills gaps is a priority now. (LinkedIn)

Image credit: LinkedIn

Talent Shortage

13. 73% of business executives expect to continue to experience talent shortages over the next three years. (Deloitte)

14. 70% of business executives say they are getting creative about sourcing for skills rather than just considering job experience. (Deloitte)

15. 63% of recruiters say that the talent shortage is their biggest problem. (LinkedIn)

16. 72% of tech workers are considering quitting their job or exploring other job opportunities in the next 12 months. (TalentLMS)
    
    

Image credit: TalentLMS

17. 80% of candidates who experience an unsatisfactory recruitment process revealed that they openly tell people about their experience, and one-third of these candidates will do so proactively. (LinkedIn)

18. Over 55% of workers say they have or are likely to, switch employment models throughout their careers. (Deloitte)

19. Since March 2022, over 45% of Russian coders have moved to Europe. More than 10% have moved to Georgia, 9% to Turkey, 6% have moved to Armenia, and more than 22% have left for other countries. (Habr Career)

20. 73% of Fortune 1000 company CEOs anticipate the work shortage brought on by the Great Resignation will disrupt their businesses over the next 12 months. (Fortune)

21. By 2030, Great Britain will fail to realize almost 9% of the technology, media, and telecommunications sector’s potential revenue due to the IT talent gap. (Korn Ferry)

22. 51% of talent management professionals say that the global education system has done nothing to address the skill shortage issue. (SHRM)

23. 37% of HR leaders say improving internal career mobility would be a top strategy to face the labor shortage. (Universum)

Image credit: SHRM

Digital Skills

24. 11.3 million people (21% of the UK population) lack basic digital skills, 8% have no digital skills, and 9% of 25-34 year-olds do not believe they have the digital skills required for employment. (UK Gov.)

25. 87% of companies think digital transformation will disrupt their industry, but only 44% are prepared for it. (Deloitte)

26. One-third of the skills listed as part of a job posting in 2018 were obsolete in 2022. (Gartner)

27. 69% of employers say they prefer employees with data science skills to those with none. (PwC)

28. 91% of tech employees want more training from their current employer. (TalentLMS)

29. 70% of employees who receive digital skills training say they are more engaged at work, and 60% say they are more likely to stay in their jobs. (Salesforce)

30. 55% of employers most worried about digital skills say a lack of critical skills hampers innovation. (PwC)

31. 91% of businesses are engaged in some form of digital initiative, and 87% of senior business leaders say digitalization is a priority. (Gartner)

32. Over the next five years, the global workforce can absorb around 149 million technology-oriented jobs. (Microsoft)

33. 2 out of 3 tech workers chose machine learning and AI as the most in-demand skill to stay competitive in the job market. (TalentLMS)

      Image credit: TalentLMS

34. In the future, nine out of 10 jobs will require digital skills, yet today 44% of Europeans aged 16 to 43 lack even basic digital abilities. (European Commission)

35. The half-life of a digital job skill is almost five years, meaning that every five years, that skill is about half as valuable as before. (World Economic Forum)

36. While 52% of companies plan to cut or defer investments because of COVID-19, just 9% will make those cuts in digital transformation. (PwC)

Learning & Development

37. More than 75% of employees want to learn in small moments throughout the day rather than in formal sessions. (Salesforce)

38. Only 46% of HR managers have specific training for new graduates just entering the workforce. (TalentLMS)

39. 72% of HR managers would invest in mental health and well-being training if they had a higher L&D budget. (TalentLMS)

40. 60% of employees surveyed say it is hard to find time for learning and development opportunities during their workday. (Salesforce)

41. 77% of HR managers will likely focus on life skills within the next 12 months. (TalentLMS)

42. 70% of employees say that increased investment in learning and development would make them happier and more productive. (Salesforce)

43. 94% of employees admit that they would stay with their current employer longer if they offered good learning opportunities. (LinkedIn)

44. Employees stay almost 2x longer at companies where internal mobility is high – the average tenure for companies with high mobility is 5.4 years, compared to 2.9 years for low mobility work environments. (LinkedIn)

45. One in two employees is pursuing learning opportunities independently, outside of training at work. (TalentLMS)

46. L&D people spend 23% less time learning than active learners on LinkedIn and 35% less than their HR counterparts. (LinkedIn)

47. 87% of L&D professionals had some to a great deal of involvement in helping their organization adapt to change. (LinkedIn)

48. 81% of employees say that it is the onus of their employer to regularly provide L&D as part of the job, not on the employee to ask for it when an opportunity arises. (TalentLMS)

  Image credit: TalentLMS

Upskilling and Reskilling

49. 50% of all employees will need reskilling by 2025 as the adoption of new technology increases. (World Economic Forum)

50. 25% more workers than before the pandemic are estimated to need to switch occupations. (McKinsey)

51. Upskilling will dramatically impact the global GDP, boosting it by more than $6 trillion and creating 5.3 million new jobs by 2030. (World Economic Forum)

52. 77% of employees who left their jobs could have been retained, with a substantial portion citing a lack of career development opportunities as a “difference maker” in their decision to leave. (SHRM)

53. 87% of employees see skills gaps at their company (McKinsey)

54. Job seekers are willing to sacrifice up to 12% of their salary for training and flexibility. (PwC)

55. 71% of workers already perform some work outside of the scope of their job descriptions. (Deloitte)

56. 80% of employees feel they retain information better when they learn it on the job than through formal training. (Salesforce)

57. 28% of hiring managers cite insufficient training technology capabilities as an inhibitor of employee skill development (Salesforce)

Image credit: Salesforce

58. 65% of workers believe employer-provided upskilling is very important when evaluating a potential new job. (Gallup)

59. 59% of hiring managers say the rise of AI will have a substantial or transformational impact on the types of skills their companies need. (Salesforce)

60. American workers who recently participated in an upskilling program had an average salary increase of 8.6% (~$8,000 more per year) compared to those who did not. (Gallup)

61. 94% of workers would stay at their company if their company invested in their careers. (LinkedIn)

62. 42% of organizations expect new efforts to upskill and reskill current employees. (CompTIA)

Skills-based Model

63. Skills-based organizations are 52% more innovative, 49% more efficient and 98% more likely to retain high performers than non-skills-based organizations. (Deloitte)

64. 85% of business executives say organizations should create more agile ways of organizing work to adapt to market changes. (Deloitte)

65. 79% of organizations are pursuing initiatives to address gaps amid a tightening market for IT labor. (CIO Dive)

Image credit: Deloitte

66. 81% of business executives say work is increasingly performed across functional boundaries. (Deloitte)

67. Companies that follow a skill-based recruitment practice experience a 2% increase in revenue for every 10% increase in intersectional gender equity. (Accenture)

68. Workers without degrees also tend to stay in their jobs 34% longer than workers with degrees. (LinkedIn)
    
69. Only 14% of business executives strongly agree that their organization uses the workforce’s skills and capabilities to their fullest potential. (Deloitte)

70. U.S. job posts that mentioned “responsibilities” without mentioning “requirements” received 14% more applications per view. (LinkedIn)

71. Around 75% of executives and workers alike say skills-based pay and transparency regarding what skills are worth would be a positive development. (Deloitte)

72. 77% of business executives agree their organization should help their workers become more employable with relevant skills. Still, only 5% strongly agree they are investing enough in helping people learn new skills to keep up with the changing world of work. (Deloitte)

73. Only 43% of postings for IT jobs contained a degree requirement. (Harvard Bussiness Review)

74. Between 2017 and 2019, employers reduced degree requirements for 46% of middle-skill positions and 31% of high-skill positions. (Harvard Bussiness Review)

75. 48% of American workers would switch to a new job if offered skills training opportunities. (Gallup)

76. 59% of workers and 39% of executives believe their organizations value job experience and academic qualifications over demonstrated skills and potential. (Deloitte)

Image credit: Gallup

Key Takeaways

A constant battle with upskilling and reskilling workers, compounded by the gig economy’s prevalence, has provided employers with obstacles.

Organizations have begun to audit and reevaluate their hiring and recruiting strategies to plan for the future. Aside from measuring candidate experience, more innovative organizations are realizing the value of training and developing their personnel.

As a result, organizations are moving toward a whole new operating model for work and the workforce that places skills, more than jobs, at the center. By basing recruitment decisions on skills more than jobs, organizations can still have a scalable, manageable, and more equitable way of operating.

Food for thought going into 2023.

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