The number of local technology job postings decreased dramatically in 2023, mirroring a national trend of firms cutting back on tech hiring and staffing.
Job postings for technology roles in the St. Louis metro in 2023 fell 45% compared with the prior year, according to a new report published by technology group TechSTL. Employers in the St. Louis region had 39,020 job postings across 55 different technology occupations in 2023. Job postings were down from 70,456 in 2022.
While there was a steep drop in job postings, technology employment inched higher, according to the report. Technology employment across the 55 occupations examined in TechSTL’s report was up 2% at the end of the third quarter of 2023. That trailed the U.S. growth rate of 3.7% for those same roles.
The data was published as part of TechSTL’s St. Louis MSA Tech Market Jobs Report, which aims to provide an annual review of hiring technology trends in the region. TechSTL, which launched in 2022, is the membership-based technology council that focuses on providing the metro with a forum to advance St. Louis’ technology and innovation sectors. Initially launched through the St. Louis Development Corp., TechSTL recently spun out as its own independent, 501(c)(6) nonprofit. TechSTL said its annual jobs report was compiled using data from JobsEQ labor market research, data from technology industry group CompTIA and the U.S. Bureau of Labor Statistics
TechSTL Executive Director Emily Hemingway said the drop in job postings didn’t surprise her, given news coverage and discussions about a slowdown in technology hiring nationally. Across the U.S., job postings for technology roles were down 35% in 2023, according to TechSTL’s report. Several high-profile technology firms, including Block, Microsoft and Meta, conducted layoffs in 2023. Meanwhile, startup companies pulled back on hiring in 2023, with data from Carta finding startups made 267,818 new hires in 2023, down 523,487 hires in 2022.
Hemingway said she expects the decrease in local job postings to have an impact on hiring figures for 2024.
“Thanks to the drop in hiring, 2024 will likely see slower employment growth for the first time in several years, however the longer term outlook is still predicting significant growth in occupations like data scientists, information security analysts and software developers,” she said.
The further emergence of artificial intelligence and changes like more remote roles have put the technology industry “in such transition that’s difficult for us as an ecosystem to be able to make smarter choices about what we do next,” Hemingway said.
“Our challenge is figuring out how best to support the pipeline because there are significantly fewer jobs available,” she said.
Technology roles with the most local job postings in 2023 included computer and information systems manager (6,335), software developer (5,199) and computer user support specialists (4,211). Per the report, St. Louis companies that posted the most technology openings in 2023 include Boeing with 1,706, Mastercard with 1,034 and Spectrum with 782.
