A slew of prominent layoffs in the tech sector have exacerbated concerns over availability of tech talent in the city — however, a recent report shows that most of the city's tech companies are still on the prowl.
Between January 2021 and June 2022, Atlanta had a peak of 12,050 tech job postings, the third-highest number in the nation, behind only New York City and Chicago, according to a the latest Dice Tech Job Report. Atlanta topped other Southeastern markets, such as Charlotte, North Carolina, (No. 10), Tampa, Florida, (No. 16), Miami (No. 20) and Raleigh (No. 23).
Despite the strong numbers for availability, Atlanta was not in the top 25 markets for year-over-year tech job growth percentage. Postings in the city grew 17% in the first half of 2022 compared to 2021. The top market was Orlando, Florida, (111%) followed by Miami (104%) and Detroit (90%). Other top 25 markets in the Southeast were: Tampa, Florida, (71%), Charlotte, North Carolina, (65%), Jacksonville, Florida, (58%) and Nashville, Tennessee (54%).
The report, which comes from Dice.com, a subsidiary of DHI Group Inc. (NYSE: DHX), analyzed 3 million tech job postings between January and June and compared them to job posting data from that same time period from last year, along with historical trends. The data was provided by labor market analytics firm Lightcast, formerly known as Emsi Burning Glass.
Atlanta slipped slightly in its ranking from last year in terms of overall tech jobs available. In the first half of 2021, Dice showed the city had the second-most tech job postings overall. It also listed Atlanta in the top 25 markets for percentage growth of available tech jobs.
The proliferation of remote work has hurt Atlanta companies’ ability to recruit talent, said Atlanta Tech Angels President Matthew May. It's allowed businesses in second-tier markets to more easily cherry-pick talent from major cities.
Compared to other U.S. states, Georgia ranked No. 7 in total tech job openings and had 39% growth compared to the first half of last year. California, Texas and Florida topped the list.
The report listed Microsoft Corp. (Nasdaq: MSFT), which is in the process of making Atlanta its East Coast hub, and Google LLC, which has expanded its presence in Midtown, among the top 50 employers for tech in the first half of 2022.
The report noted that a cooling housing market may affect tech hiring in some markets that are viewed as overvalued, such as Austin, Charlotte and Phoenix. A plateau is expected as people stay in the cities they relocated to after moving during the pandemic.
Layoffs from investor pullback
Despite optimism from the report, with inflation and rising interest rates, investors are trading a focus on growth for profitability. That has decreased company valuations, which were based on projections rather than actual revenue.
In May, marketing software firm Terminus announced it was making layoffs a year after raising $90 million and being viewed as a potential unicorn. Earlier this month, Atlanta Inno reported that digital experience startup FullStory, which reached a $1 billion valuation last year, was laying off 12% of its staff.
The Dice report showed that the amount of available tech jobs dropped after May across U.S. markets, the first month-over-month decline since September 2021. Between May and June, the number of tech job postings in Atlanta dropped from 12,050 to 9,970.
