The ICT labor market is in a phase of significant change. While ICT professionals used to be at the forefront of labor market innovations, we now seem to see the sector's growth level off. The number of ICT professionals, which had been growing solidly for years, has been declining since mid-2022. This is due in part to the rise of artificial intelligence (AI), which is increasingly taking over tasks traditionally performed by humans.
In the latest Talent Monitor, we dive into these developments and provide insight into the trends shaping the ICT labor market. For example, it appears that large companies such as Google and Amazon are already realizing significant cost savings by using AI for software development. In fact, Google reports that 25% of new code is now written by AI. This has direct implications for the demand for ICT professionals. Whereas there used to be a shortage of ICT professionals, the demand is now decreasing. At the same time, the number of professionals actively seeking new opportunities is growing.
Another important insight is the decline in demand for independent ICT professionals. The tightness in the market is diminishing, but higher demands from clients mean that recruitment feasibility still remains a challenge. This does offer employers an opportunity to more easily attract ICT professionals, but at the same time they must prepare for the changes brought about by the enforcement of the DBA law and the decline in demand for ICT professionals.
Our predictions for 2025 show that the influence of AI and globalization will drastically change the ICT labor market. Employers will need to focus more on specific skills and flexibility, while independent ICT workers will continue to strengthen their position through a growing supply of work. The transition in the ICT sector offers valuable insights that can also apply to other sectors of the labor market.
Want to take a deeper look at the changes that will affect the ICT labor market in 2025 and beyond? Download the full report on headfirst.group and find out how this transition will affect the broader labor market.
Intelligence Group and HeadFirst Group, of which Striive is a part, make available unique insights on labor market-related themes on a quarterly basis based on Intelligence Group's recruitment and labor market data, combined with HeadFirst Group's hiring data. Both data sources are stored in a structured manner, in accordance with the ISCO standard.