The US IT job market is being hit by two aspects at a time. While businesses tackle the fear of a recession caused by the Trump administration's volatile tariff policies, AI is increasingly wiped out entry-level work.
The latest view on the Bureau of Labor Statistics data by IT management consulting firm Janco found last month that the unemployment rate for IT professionals earned almost all points, increasing from 4.6% in April to 5.5% in May. This is the fifth consecutive month that IT unemployment rate has exceeded the national average.
Janco has open most IT positions and includes large language models, blockchain technology and omnichannel commerce, Janco said. Outside those areas it's slim picking.
“The opportunities for IT professionals are poor except for the implementation of AI, which focuses on improving productivity and staff reduction,” Janco said.
Most unemployment lies in the communications sector and its roles related to reporting, monitoring and support. The biggest hit is professionals with “legacy” skills in small markets like Nashville and Tulsa, and professionals in bigger locations like New York and Dallas will have a simple time.
As has been the case in recent months, Janco believes that AI is responsible for being excluded in many entry-level IT positions, particularly in the reporting and management of communications and compliance.
“Companies do not want to hire new staff to meet mandated compliance requirements,” Janco CEO Victor Janulaitis wrote in the report. “Ergo, they're focusing on AI to automate as many tasks as possible, especially for reporting and monitoring.”
In other words, managers consider these jobs to be perfect for the AI buzzword of the moment: agents
They took our job: Agent AI finally knocks out the mask
Agents are narrowly coordinated AI applications that are programmed to make independent decisions towards specific goals, like the workflow of LLM injected steroids.
According to Big Four's accounting firm EY, agents are telling the next step in the evolution of enterprise AI and are rapidly gaining mind share among business leaders looking for ways to get returns on AI investments.
In a survey released last month, EY found that 48% of business leaders employ, or already employ, Agent AI in their organizations. 81% of respondents expressed optimism about the possibility that AI will help them achieve their targets next year, with 92% expecting to increase their AI spending in the next 12 months.
“Our research shows a reaffirmation of ambitious AI spending and a transition from pilot to production,” EY said. “That being said, despite the optimism they feel, these technology leaders are putting great pressure on them to show return on investment now through measurements and concrete top-line and bottom-line results.”
EY reports that the workplace impact of agent AI recruitment is “mixed” and that most respondents need to hire people with AI management skills, and that they acknowledge that “workforce rebalance is still happening.”
In fact, AI-related employer recruitment has increased by 117% so far.
Meanwhile, Janco predicts a slowdown throughout the year due to economic uncertainty, predicting a third year in a row to reduce IT jobs. In other words, if you are considering a career with it, you will know better that you know how to babysit a bot. ®
