The number of unemployed information technology workers rose from 98,000 in December 2024 to 152,000 in January 2025, recent data from the U.S. Department of Labor shows. Some see artificial intelligence already having an impact on the IT job market.

WHY IT MATTERS

While the Department of Labor announced Friday that the United States added a net total of 143,000 jobs nationwide to start the new year, it also found that “routine and mundane” jobs in the tech sector saw AI replace more people, Victor Janulaitis, chief executive of Janco Associates, told The Wall Street Journal.

The increase in spending by leading technology companies to develop generative AI to replace clerical and administrative tasks enables their clients to decrease labor costs in these areas. 

The firm’s latest data forecast considered opening versus filled jobs for IT professionals and is current through February 2025, the firm said on its employment data reporting website page under the briefing, noting the IT job market shrank for the second year in a row.

There are approximately 152,000 unemployed IT professionals, and the IT job market shrank by more than 171,000 jobs over the previous 24 months, representing flattened growth, the firm said. 

Based on its data and forecast models, it does not anticipate growth in the IT job market in 2025.

THE LARGER TREND

The health sector has seen its share of technology-driven corporate layoffs. Last May, Highmark let 98 people go at enGen, an information technology subsidiary providing back-office claims management and other administrative functions, citing improved operational efficiencies. 

“We are focused on building the workforce of the future, which requires identifying talent gaps, investing in in-demand roles, such as nursing, and adapting technologies, such as AI, to better anticipate demand and drive value for consumers,” Highmark said in a statement at the time. “We are also looking for opportunities to transition/centralize/shift work that enables our employees to leverage their skill sets and work at the top of their license.”

But in other areas of healthcare, the opposite problem – knowledgeable tech worker shortages – has posed challenges. Software engineers and developers, data analysts and scientists, and security IT professionals roles are all in high demand. 

At the close of 2020, executives from leading health IT vendors cited several pressing challenges and opportunities requiring tech resources to support care delivery and operations. 

There’s also a shortage of cybersecurity talent, which has only become a bigger concern with each passing year.

Recognizing the dearth of cybersecurity talent in the U.S., the Department of Defense released an implementation plan for a federal cyber workforce strategy with a five-year horizon in 2023. The plan detailed the agency’s then shift away from its focus on the infosec skills acquired before hiring and pivoted to evaluating critical candidate capabilities that could be utilized.

As healthcare organizations pay millions to recover from ransomware and other cyber attacks, they are actively looking to get “butts in seats” – and have them leverage AI security tools – to shore up their cyber defenses.

ON THE RECORD

“As they start looking at AI, they’re also looking at reducing the number of programmers, systems designers, hoping that AI is going to be able to provide them some value and have a good rate of return,” Janulaitis told WSJ, speaking of businesses’ hiring practices in general.

Andrea Fox is senior editor of Healthcare IT News.
Email: afox@himss.org
Healthcare IT News is a HIMSS Media publication.