The June 2016 Job Report released by The Bureau of Labor Statistics on July 8th showing an increase of 287,000 nonfarm jobs generated a positive reaction on Wall Street. But what does that mean (if anything) to the demand for qualified engineers, and specifically Network Engineers, across the US? Let’s compare two sources of information. The first chart below shows average non-farm job growth per month in the US, for the first six months of each year since 1995. Interestingly, the most recent report shows growth rate over the last six month period was only higher than two previous years (if you exclude the years where actual negative job growth occurred) since 1995.
Based on data extracted from CareerBuilder, one of the largest employment job boards, demand for technical professionals and specifically Network Engineering Jobs, does not appear to be as closely correlated to other “non-farm” jobs in terms of hiring. Demand for technical resources significantly outweighs supply.
One could argue they seem largely uncorrelated, if you take the position the SMB client base serviced by a large percentage of VARs and MSPs need their infrastructure secure and stable, regardless of job growth across the US. Our conclusion based on this anecdotal evidence is the current needs of the SMB market continue to drive greater demand for qualified network and infrastructure professionals, independent of general job market conditions. This is further supported by:
- The current deep integration of technology in all businesses’ core operations specifically driven by the needs of network infrastructure support and network security
- An almost universal need for a 7 x 24 business operation
VAR Staffing welcomes the opportunity to discuss your technical resource hiring needs.
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Note: Demand is the total number of Network Engineering related jobs posted on CareerBuilder between Jan. to June, 2016. Supply represents the number of active resumes posted on CareerBuilder that match the posted jobs criteria, based on CareerBuilder matching algorithms.
