Technology hiring trends start with a bigger labor-market baseline
Workforce planning for technology teams should begin with the broader U.S. employment picture rather than with anecdotal hiring cycles. The Bureau of Labor Statistics projects total U.S. employment to rise by 5.2 million jobs from 2024 to 2034, reaching 175.2 million, a 3.1% increase. Within that backdrop, computer and mathematical occupations are projected to grow 10.1%, which is more than triple the overall pace.
That gap matters for employers building software engineering, cloud, data, AI, and product capabilities. BLS also points to demand for AI-based systems, data processing, software development, research services, and consulting as drivers of growth in both the information sector and professional, scientific, and technical services. For planning purposes, the message is straightforward: technology hiring trends are not isolated from the economy, but the tech talent market is projected to expand faster than the labor market overall.
Openings matter as much as growth when setting hiring plans
Headcount forecasts alone can understate how much recruiting capacity employers will need. The Occupational Outlook Handbook estimates about 317,700 annual openings, on average, in computer and information technology occupations from 2024 to 2034. That figure includes not only new jobs created by growth but also hiring required when workers leave occupations permanently.
For U.S. employers, this is one of the most practical workforce-planning signals in the dataset. A company may not be adding hundreds of net-new roles, but it still competes in a market shaped by replacement demand. That affects budgeting, recruiter workload, succession planning, and internal mobility strategies. It also helps explain why hiring can remain active even when overall technology headcount growth appears more measured than in prior expansion cycles.
Growth is concentrated in software, data, research, and security—not every tech title
Technology workforce planning works best when leaders avoid treating all tech jobs as a single category. BLS projections show strong expansion in several core roles that align with modern digital delivery. Data scientists are projected to grow 33.5% between 2024 and 2034, information security analysts 28.5%, computer and information research scientists 19.7%, software developers 15.8%, and computer and information systems managers 15.2%.
At the same time, some occupations move in the opposite direction. BLS projects employment declines for computer programmers and for network and computer systems administrators over the same period. That divergence is a useful reminder for workforce planning: demand is shifting toward roles tied to applied analytics, software creation, research, and security, while some legacy title categories face a different outlook. Employers should calibrate requisitions and reskilling plans around evolving work content, not outdated assumptions about which titles automatically represent growth. When teams move from market analysis to individual talent mapping, SignalHire's employee list offers another way to review professional backgrounds across related technology functions.
Compensation and STEM growth reinforce the long-term case for technical talent investment
The wage profile for technology work remains a major hiring signal. BLS reports a median annual wage of $105,990 for computer and information technology occupations in May 2024, compared with $49,500 for all occupations. That spread reflects the continued value employers place on technical capabilities and the need for disciplined compensation planning when competing for experienced engineers, analysts, and technical leaders.
The longer-range supply picture also supports continued investment. BLS projects STEM employment to rise from 10.7837 million in 2024 to 11.6537 million in 2034, an increase of 870,000 jobs, or 8.1%. For Horizon Softwares' audience, that suggests technology workforce planning should not be limited to near-term requisition management. It should also cover location strategy, employer branding, internal development, and career architecture that helps retain scarce talent over multiple planning cycles.
Skills-based planning is becoming more useful than title-based planning, especially in cybersecurity
A skills lens can make hiring plans more precise than a title-only approach. BLS publishes occupation-level skills scores on a 1.0 to 5.0 scale and shows that several technology occupations rank highly on that measure, including computer programmers, computer and information research scientists, and software developers. Even where title-level demand differs, the underlying skills picture can help employers identify adjacent talent pools and realistic reskilling paths.
Cybersecurity is a strong example of why this matters. NIST testimony citing CyberSeek data reported 469,930 cybersecurity job postings over the prior 12 months and an existing U.S. cybersecurity workforce of 1,239,018, with 85 skilled workers available for every 100 demanded and a reported gap of 225,000 workers. NIST also notes that the NICE Framework organizes cybersecurity work into 52 roles across 7 categories and 11 competency areas, supported by more than 2,220 task, knowledge, and skill statements. For employers, that makes capability mapping more actionable than relying on broad labels alone. It is also worth keeping definitions clear: BLS employment projections and CyberSeek demand indicators measure different things, so they should inform planning in complementary rather than interchangeable ways.
For U.S. employers, the clearest technology hiring trends are not about uniform expansion across every tech title. The evidence points to faster-than-average growth in the broader tech labor market, substantial replacement demand, and particularly strong momentum in software development, data, research, and cybersecurity-related work. The most resilient workforce plans will therefore combine role-specific demand forecasting with skills-based hiring, internal mobility, and compensation discipline. For software professionals, the same data suggests continued opportunity in applied technical fields that align closely with product delivery, analytics, AI-adjacent work, and security.
Sources
- Industry and occupational employment projections ... 2026-08-18
- Employment Projections: 2024-2034 Summary 2025-08-28
- Computer and Information Technology Occupations 2025-08-28
- Artificial intelligence, information technology, and ... 2026-07-16
- Computers and Information Technology : U.S. Bureau of Labor ... 2025-08-28
- Employment Projections Home Page 2025-08-28