2025 Tech Job Market Recap

In the 1950s, being a software engineer looked something like this. Surrounded by huge machines and endless cables, these workers were truly rare to find at that time. According to a 1960 report from the United States Department of Labor, only 10,000 people across the country were engaged in programming. The scarce supply of these workers and the growing demand for technological services caused their salaries to increase exponentially over time. However, with the technological revolution of recent years, software engineers no longer seem so indispensable. It's becoming especially difficult for software developers to find jobs, and experts say that isn't changing anytime soon. In just the first months of 2025, nearly 18,000 tech workers have been replaced by automation technologies. AI can already do all of the jobs that we as humans do. This year, no mega cap is cutting as much and as quickly. And with the growing race for AI dominance, this trend does not seem likely to change. So how did the rise and fall of tech workers happen? In the 1950s, being a software engineer was nothing like it is today. Workers in this industry operated enormous computers that filled entire rooms. At that time, programming was not just writing lines of code. It involved punching cards to feed these rudimentary machines. No one imagined that, decades later, a machine would be capable of writing code on its own. More than a quarter of all new code at Google is now generated by AI. In those early years, languages like Fortran and COBOL marked the birth of programming. Programmers were a technical elite, and the process of creating software required a deep understanding of hardware architecture. As a result, there were so few programmers at the time that it is estimated fewer than 10,000 people across the United States had the knowledge and experience necessary to be considered software engineers. Back then, there was no concern about automation, as computers were slow and entirely dependent on human ingenuity. But as the 1970s and 1980s progressed, automation began to take shape. To these programmers, a computer presents a constantly changing image. Is it a good servant or a bad master? Compilers evolved, and the first integrated development environments emerged, making coding easier. In 1985, the release of Turbo Pascal revolutionized the market, allowing programmers to compile and execute programs efficiently. These advances reduced manual work, but creativity remained the exclusive domain of humans. By 1985, there were already about 200,000 programmers in the United States, and demand was rapidly increasing due to the rise of personal computers. PC sales are now exceeding business sales, up 25% last year and still accelerating. At the same time, the first attempts at automating specific tasks emerged, such as compiler optimization and static code analysis. However, the idea that a machine could replace an entire programmer still seemed distant. Software development remained a craft, with each line of code requiring meticulous attention. With the arrival of the new millennium, software development underwent a radical transformation. The first autocomplete and error detection programs appeared, streamlining repetitive tasks. Meanwhile, the open-source community flourished, with platforms like GitHub allowing developers to share and reuse code. During this period, programming remained labor-intensive, although automated tools began to ease the most tedious tasks. By 2010, the number of software developers worldwide exceeded 18 million. At the same time, more sophisticated code generation systems began to emerge. Tools like AutoML automated part of the machine learning process, making it easier to create models without advanced knowledge of statistics or mathematics. This development sparked both excitement and concern. If a machine could automate machine learning, what would stop it from doing the same with other areas of programming? But the real shift came in 2010 with the rise of artificial intelligence. AI poses a major threat to all of humanity. So could these programs really turn into science fiction like the Terminator movies, or are they a valuable tool that could benefit society? Advances in deep learning enabled the creation of models capable of analyzing vast amounts of data and detecting complex patterns. In 2015, Google introduced TensorFlow, a machine learning framework that marked a turning point in AI development. Tools like SonarQube emerged to automatically identify vulnerabilities and bad coding practices. In 2017, a paper published by Google introduced the Transformer architecture, the foundation of modern language models. This innovation allowed the training of AI models with natural language processing capabilities on an unprecedented scale. Over time, these models began to be applied to software development, generating code snippets and automating debugging tasks. But the most significant milestone came in 2021 when GitHub launched Copilot. Microsoft 365 Copilot. Copilot combines the power of large language models to turn your words into the most powerful productivity tool on the planet. Developed in collaboration with OpenAI, this system could write functional code from simple natural language descriptions. According to GitHub, in its first year of existence, Copilot generated approximately 40% of the code in the projects where it was used. This led developers to question whether their jobs were at risk. In 2022, DeepMind introduced AlphaCode, an AI system capable of solving competitive programming problems. Although it did not surpass the best human programmers, it ranked in the top 54% of coding competitions. This development made it clear that automation would not only affect simple tasks, but could also tackle complex problems once thought to be the exclusive domain of human thought. By 2025, AI is not just a support tool, it is an active collaborator. Language models like GPT-4 can generate complete applications from brief instructions, automating routine tasks. Companies like Microsoft and Amazon have already integrated AI into their workflows, reducing the need for junior programmers. Generative AI underpins everything we're doing here, with perceiving, grasping, and moving products with the Robin Arms to managing fleet congestion with our Pegasus robotic drive. According to a report, up to 30% of software development tasks can now be automated by advanced AI. The consequences of this revolution are clear. Basic roles are disappearing as machines take over repetitive tasks. Companies prefer to use automated tools rather than hire junior developers due to cost savings. On the other hand, the required skills are changing. Developers no longer just write code. They must understand how to interact with AI and validate its outputs. Looking to the future, projections indicate that AI will continue to advance. Emerging tools like DeepMind's AlphaCode have already demonstrated the ability to solve complex competitive programming problems However, opportunities are also evolving. Fields like cybersecurity, software architecture, and algorithm supervision remain areas where AI cannot yet replace human expertise. According to a study, by 2035, developers with hybrid skills combining AI and traditional programming will be in high demand. Moreover, creativity and innovation remain human strengths that AI cannot fully replicate. Developers exploring emerging fields like AI ethics, data privacy, and technology regulation have a vast arena for meaningful and sustainable careers. The displacement of software developers by AI is an ongoing process, but it is not an inevitable fate for everyone. Throughout history, automation has changed the nature of work, but also created new opportunities for those who adapt. Developers possess something that neither AI nor automation can match their capacity for reasoning and creativity. The future of software engineers will depend on their ability to adapt and work alongside artificial intelligence. The job market is changing faster than ever. According to a study by the World Economic Forum, nearly a quarter of all current professions will change in the next five years due to AI. Half of entry-level white-collar jobs The tech sector is already being hit, but this will spread to many other sectors of the labor economy. Tech has already been hit, and other industries are just months away from massive cuts. Even the CEOs of the largest AI companies in the United States are warning about the potential consequences. The CEO of an artificial intelligence company warns that AI is about to wipe out millions of jobs in the next few years, even calling it a bloodbath. The effects of this labor revolution could bring significant consequences, potentially leading to unemployment rates never seen before. It's not just tech. The CEO of a major AI company says it could wipe out half of all the white-collar starter jobs, possibly causing unemployment to soar as high as 20%. So how could AI eliminate nearly half of all white-collar jobs? The accelerated advancement of artificial intelligence is transforming the global job market in unprecedented ways. What was once limited to repetitive manual tasks or data processing has now evolved into tools capable of executing complex cognitive functions that were historically the responsibility of entry-level administrative workers. Use cases for AI continue to grow. There is one industry leaning hard into the technology, customer support. A report by McKinsey & Company estimated that generative AI could automate activities that currently represent The most vulnerable positions are those focused on routine information processing rather than human judgment, empathy, or interpersonal skills. For example, in the customer service area, AI-powered chatbots already handle more than 85% of first-level support requests in large tech companies, up from 30% in 2020. Similarly, law firms are using tools like case text to conduct legal research and draft contracts in minutes, tasks that previously took a junior lawyer hours. At a fraction of the cost of a human lawyer, Browder says he's able to use his software to help everyday Americans battle legal issues, such as traffic tickets and evictions. So far, he says his company has helped in more than 1.5 million cases and saved his clients millions of dollars. A report by the World Economic Forum projected that by 2027, approximately 83 million jobs could be lost globally due to AI and automation. Most concerning is that the majority of eliminated jobs are entry-level or junior roles. Likewise, Goldman Sachs estimated that 300 million full-time jobs could be affected by generative AI, with a greater impact in developed economies due to their reliance on office work. In the U.S., the report identified that up to 46% of tasks performed by entry-level employees could be automated in the next decade. In concrete terms, if these projections are fulfilled, between 10 and 12 million entry-level office jobs could disappear in the U.S. alone, considering the current size of the administrative workforce. And the behavior of large companies in 2024 and 2025 reflects this transformation. All right, the layoffs that are rippling through the tech industry aren't showing any signs of easing. IBM is the latest tech giant to do so. Companies like IBM, Deloitte and Accenture have announced pauses or significant reductions in junior-level hiring. The CEO of IBM stated that the company planned to halt hiring in roles that could be replaced by AI, especially in human resources and administrative support. These roles represented about 26,000 employees within the company. Similarly, Accenture announced in its 2024 fiscal report the cut of 19,000 jobs, mainly among non-billable and entry-level staff, while increasing its investment in training and deploying generative AI. Even in sectors like finance and marketing, junior analysts are being replaced by AI tools that offer faster, cheaper and more scalable solutions. The collapse of entry-level jobs has also affected internships and training programs, which have traditionally served as gateways to the professional market. According to the National Association of Colleges and Employers, the number of internship offers from Fortune 500 companies dropped by 22 percent between 2022 and 2024. In the tech sector, the decline was even greater, around 34 percent. A blunt new warning for American workers. A tech CEO says artificial intelligence is about to wipe out millions of jobs. This decline is directly related to the growing use of AI in internal processes. Companies are finding that young workers, once essential for tasks like transcription, data labeling or content moderation, are no longer indispensable. As a result, fewer and fewer graduates gain the experience needed to advance to intermediate positions, creating bottlenecks in long-term professional development. In addition to eliminating jobs, AI is also contributing to wage stagnation in administrative roles. According to the Federal Reserve Bank of San Francisco, real wage growth in entry-level professional jobs fell by 1.8 percent in 2024, in contrast to a 2.4 percent increase across the overall economy. This stagnation is partly due to the oversupply of candidates competing for an ever-shrinking number of openings, as well as the corporate preference for AI-based solutions. Many young people across the country are finding it difficult to find summertime work. The labor market also posing a big challenge for young people looking for a summer job. A new report suggests there's been a steep decline in the number of temporary jobs available. Economists also warn of a growing polarization of the labor market. While advanced technical and executive positions remain in high demand, and low-wage service jobs persist due to their physical or interpersonal nature, the middle tier, traditionally filled by young college graduates, is disappearing. AI is not only increasing human productivity, it is directly replacing it. Whereas previous waves of automation such as spreadsheets supported human work, generative AI can perform tasks from start to finish without human intervention. And it reflects a troubling increase in businesses and companies opting to cut back human tasks in favor of technology. A 2024 MIT study found that the adoption of AI led to a 19% drop in job postings involving repetitive cognitive tasks, while job postings for AI engineers and product managers rose by 11%. This asymmetry suggests that for every new job created in AI, two to three junior jobs disappear or are never posted. The disappearance of entry-level jobs poses considerable macroeconomic risks. These positions are essential for skill acquisition, upward mobility, and the renewal of human capital at intermediate and senior levels. Without them, the talent development pipeline could collapse, leading to a shortage of qualified personnel in key sectors within a decade. Moreover, rising unemployment among graduates could lead to a decline in consumer spending, higher default rates on student loans, and increased demand for public subsidies. The unemployment rate for people between the ages of 22 and 27, with at least a bachelor's degree, is consistently higher than the national rate. All of which would put pressure on the broader economy. A projection from the Congressional Budget Office warned that if the current trend continues, student loan delinquency could rise from 7.8% to 12.5% by 2027. The emergence of artificial intelligence as a substitute for entry-level administrative work is one of the most disruptive forces in the modern labor market. While AI offers efficiency and cost savings for companies, it also threatens to dismantle the foundations of professional mobility for millions of workers. In the 90s, obtaining a university degree and finding an office job was seen as synonymous with stability and good income. This made blue-collar trades such as plumbing and construction less attractive due to their high physical effort. But since the boom of AI and the automation of office tasks, this seems to be changing. Gen Z's pivot from college to blue-collar jobs, from student debt to the rise in AI. In 2025, 4 out of 10 young people with a university degree are opting for blue-collar careers. Just 22% of U.S. adults say college was worth it. But this is not rare since the supply of office jobs has been increasingly reduced due to automation. New college graduates are facing one of the most challenging markets for entry-level jobs in a decade. The inability of AI to perform jobs such as electrician, plumbing, or construction has made these types of jobs more valued than ever. 30% of the things that you do at work right now could be automated in the next three years, which is why more young people are shifting to blue-collar jobs. Likewise, the average salary of some blue-collar jobs is sometimes higher than many office job offers today. More and more people are going to trade school, becoming plumbers, selling their business to private equity, and becoming millionaires. This has made many young people rethink whether it is still worth obtaining a university degree for a white-collar career. So, how AI is pushing workers to blue-collar jobs? The CNBC Make It videos that used to show people working in tech earning over $100,000 a year have begun to change. My name is Richard Armendatis. I'm 30 years old. I'm a journeyman plumber. I live in San Antonio, Texas, and I expect to make $105,000 to $125,000 this year. But to understand how white-collar workers are opting for blue-collar jobs, we have to go back several decades, when blue-collar jobs were not so attractive. In the 1960s, blue-collar jobs such as plumbers, electricians, and mechanics were the heart of the manufacturing economy and urban development. In the 60s, construction, agriculture, and manufacturing employed a large part of the U.S. workforce. In those sectors, less than 10% of workers had a university degree, while less than 50% had higher education. And some branches recorded a high school graduation rate of barely 55%. From the 1980s to the 2000s, the economy began its transition toward the service sector and high-tech industries. University degrees became increasingly valued. Many young people aspired to white-collar jobs, associating them with better income and professional status, while the perception of manual trades became less attractive. Since the last half of the 20th century, a college degree has been touted as a must-have for a stable and successful career. I did grow up around a lot of people telling me college was the route that you should go. My parents were always hounding me about going to college. All the teachers reminded you about making sure you get good grades so you can pass elementary school, middle school, and go to college. In the early 2000s, outsourcing consolidated office work as the ideal in areas such as administration, finance, and technology. Meanwhile, technical trades were left behind, perceived as less modern, less remunerated, or of lower social prestige. But since the rise of remote work due to the pandemic in 2020, added to the recent advances in AI, tasks that until recently were considered safe began to be automated. The security of office jobs resided in their cognitive component, that is, the need for analysis. But recent developments in generative models and process automation are performing those tasks at unprecedented speed and scale. The consequence is not only job loss, but a transformation of labor demand. Tasks that require physical intervention, manual skills, and on-site presence have become more valuable. This has made many young people question whether it is still worth obtaining a university degree today. Do you need a college degree to land a high-paying job? It appears that some companies are now hiring applicants who don't have a degree. It's leaving many to wonder, is a degree really necessary? Global reports show that a substantial proportion of current work time is exposed to automation. Indeed, between one-third and one-half of work activities could be automated with current and emerging technologies. For example, in the United States, some estimates place around 30 percent of office work hours as potentially automated by 2030. On the other hand, tasks that demand physical presence and specialized manual skills have increased in demand. This is because these jobs cannot be performed remotely by a machine, since they require physical presence and practical abilities. An electrician, for example, cannot be replaced by an algorithm working from a computer. There are people needed to maintain, inspect, repair, maintain our infrastructure across sectors, energy, water, supply chain, and the likes. AI can't fix bridges. AI can't repair machinery. Goldman Sachs estimated that 25 percent of repetitive legal tasks in the United States were automated, resulting in a 15 percent decrease in the demand for paralegals between 2020 and 2025. The salaries of these office roles also stagnated, as administrative assistance wages increased only 5 percent between 2020 and 2025, while customer service representatives reported an increase of just 4.1 percent. According to the Bureau of Labor Statistics, employment of electricians will grow 11 percent between 2023 and 2033, while that of plumbers and pipefitters will increase 6 percent in the same period, figures above the general average. In terms of salaries, blue-collar workers have experienced significant growth. According to a Forbes report, the fastest-growing jobs through 2032 will be blue-collar, with 1.7 million new positions projected. Construction workers saw an 18.4 percent wage increase, with salaries reaching up to $75,000 in 2025. Plumbers experienced even greater growth, with a 17.5 percent increase since 2020, and in high-demand areas such as California, the average salary reached up to $99,000. Electricians also saw a significant increase, with average salaries of $98,000 in states such as New Jersey, a 21.4 percent increase. Welders, another key trade, reached a 20 percent increase from 2020 to date, according to the Bureau of Labor Statistics. This wage increase has made blue-collar jobs more attractive to those displaced from office jobs. Now, blue-collar workers are seeing a faster wage growth than those white-collar jobs. It's a trend this country has not seen in years. This wage growth in blue-collar trades is due to several factors such as the shortage of skilled labor, the aging workforce, and the growing demand driven by infrastructure projects. For example, wind turbine technicians, an emerging role in recent years, earned on average $87,000 in 2024, with projected job growth of 60 percent between 2023 and 2033. The decline of office jobs has driven a massive transition of white-collar workers toward blue-collar trades. According to McKinsey, by 2030, 12 million workers in the United States will need occupational transitions, with 80 percent coming from administrative and office roles. This migration has accelerated A report from Revelio Labs noted that And the same report highlighted that wages for these positions have remained stagnant since mid-2024. In contrast, blue-collar jobs saw a 46 percent increase This transition has been particularly notable among young and middle-aged workers seeking financial stability and growth opportunities. There's definitely a lot of young people that are looking at college and questioning, is this worth it? You know, the time, the effort, but also the debt. We see those numbers in the tens of thousands on average, rising over time. This has led many young people to reconsider investing in university degrees, which on average can cost between $100,000 and $200,000, according to the College Board. With the decline of white-collar jobs and the increase in tech layoffs, young people see blue-collar trades as viable alternatives. Apprenticeship programs for these types of trades cost less than $10,000 and combine practical and theoretical training, allowing young people to enter these fields without significant debt. According to the American Association of Community Colleges, 60% of young people consider blue-collar trades more respected today than decades ago, and 70% value their stability. Likewise, according to Indeed, 40% of high school graduates opt for vocational training over universities, prioritizing quick income and job security. More than half of Gen Z workers say they're now seriously considering blue-collar or skilled trade work. This transition, supported by training programs and a cultural shift, reflects the appreciation of practical skills in an automated world. Despite reskilling needs, blue-collar trades offer displaced workers a path to stability and satisfaction in an evolving market. Tech offices are emptier than ever. Nearly 30 million square feet have been vacated since 2023, when remote work was in vogue. This commercial real estate office now in the midst of a $20 trillion downturn as companies in the Bay Area and beyond shift to remote work. Now, with the rise of AI and widespread layoffs, this issue is intensifying even outside Silicon Valley. America's big cities are facing major problems, many of which can be summed up by a controversial new phrase, the urban doom loop. In places like San Francisco, commercial vacancy exceeds 34%, the highest in the country. San Francisco is known for two things, the most deserted downtown district in America and an ever-increasing housing crisis. This is reflected in employee engagement in the tech sector, which fell from 38% to 27% in just five years. So how are tech companies becoming empty and what consequences could this have for the economy? What was once synonymous with growth, energy and vibrant innovation hubs is now marked by silence, vacancy and downsizing. The world's leading tech companies, which for years competed for talent, space and expansion, are now undergoing a calculated retreat. Empty offices, closed cafeterias and disintegrating corporate cultures are now part of the new landscape. Between 2022 and 2025, the tech sector has undergone a profound transformation. In less than three years, mass layoffs, office sales and the strategic shift toward AI by big tech have hollowed out the industry from within. What was once expansion and vibrant culture is now reduction, distance and silence. This not only redefines the identity of the tech industry, but also its role in the global economy. According to a study, more than 525,000 tech workers were laid off worldwide between January 2022 and June 2025. And the trend continues. News came out this morning that they're laying off roughly 9,000 employees. Now, while that cut is less than 4% of its global workforce, you have to put it in context with the other cuts it's made over the course of the past year. In the United States alone, over 310,000 tech employees lost their jobs during this period, marking a labor contraction not seen since the dot-com crisis. The leading firms spearheaded this restructuring. Meta, Amazon and Google laid off hundreds of thousands of workers in an attempt to readjust their structures following the exponential growth during the pandemic. What stood out in this phase was that the cuts weren't limited to peripheral or underperforming areas. They reached key departments such as recruitment, human resources and even engineering. At Meta, for example, nearly 50% of the recruitment team was eliminated during the first two rounds of layoffs. This contraction directly impacted office occupancy, with entire floors shutting down or being subleased after once being bustling with activity. As Americans continue working from home, several U.S. cities are having trouble filling office space. Thus, emptiness ceased to be a metaphor and became a visible physical reality across tech campuses. One of the most evident transformations of the tech hollowing out is the reduction in the use of physical space. Although remote work was already common in the sector before the pandemic, the pandemic's outbreak accelerated the widespread adoption of this model. In 2020, nearly 90% of tech workers in the U.S. switched to working from home. And while a gradual return to offices was expected, that return never fully materialized. Early in the pandemic, a lot of office sector workers started working from home and here we are three years later, many of them are still working from home at least. According to a report, by 2023, only 26% of tech employees in the U.S. were going to the office three or more days a week. Office occupancy figures reflected this shift. In San Francisco, one of the sector's traditional hubs, office occupancy was just 39% in the second quarter of 2023. In Seattle, another major tech center, occupancy was even lower. Only 33% of office space was in use at the beginning of 2024. This situation led companies to significantly reduce their real estate footprint. Meta canceled leases for 435,000 square feet of office space in Manhattan in 2023. Salesforce, meanwhile, vacated or subleased more than 700,000 square feet in San Francisco between 2022 and 2024. According to a report, the tech industry returned more than 30 million square feet of office space in the U.S. since early 2022. This represents an 18% drop in the total space occupied by tech companies nationwide. Many American offices are sitting empty. New numbers showing 94 million square feet of empty office space in Manhattan. That is an all-time record. This reduction not only affects the urban landscape, but also symbolizes a structural change in how companies understand work. Tech companies are not only reducing their physical spaces and headcounts, they are also redefining their management models. If the previous decade's mantra was grow at all costs, today the focus has shifted to do more with less, with strong pressure from investors to cut costs. Meta, for example, declared 2023 its year of efficiency, which translated into cuts to administrative staff and the reduction of internal programs. Google restructured several departments to eliminate redundancies, focusing on keeping only roles directly tied to engineering or financial results. Amazon cut its experimental initiatives and concentrated resources on its most profitable units, eliminating many internal support and innovation teams. According to a McKinsey report published in 2024, the average tech company reduced its workforce by 12 percent compared to its 2021 peak. However, it increased its revenue per employee by 19 percent, a clear indicator of leaner, results-driven operations. Google now offering some voluntary buyouts to employees across several divisions, even hitting its core search and advertising units. As part of this transformation, many companies eliminated iconic perks of tech culture. Perks ranging from free meals to social activities were all cut. Together, these cuts not only streamlined budgets, but also contributed to a more distant, cold, and depersonalized work environment. The impact of this hollowing out goes far beyond corporate walls. Entire cities have seen the disappearance of the workforce flows that once energized their local economies. In San Francisco, the commercial vacancy rate reached 34 percent in 2024, the highest in the country. This phenomenon has triggered ripple effects on small businesses and services that depended on the tech ecosystem. Laundromats, gyms, and downtown shops report revenue drops between 50 percent and 70 percent compared to pre-pandemic levels. Public transportation usage in areas like San Jose has fallen by 60 percent. These changes have directly impacted public finances. All these empty offices aren't just a waste of space. They mean less rent for owners, lower tax revenue for cities, and the decline of entire neighborhoods. San Francisco's budget faced a deficit of more than 800 million dollars in 2024, largely due to the loss of tax revenue from commercial real estate. A study by Moody's estimated that the decline in tech office occupancy could reduce the local GDP of major tech cities by four to six percent annually. This impact could persist over the next decade if the trend continues. What was once an economic engine is now perceived as a structural void that threatens urban sustainability. Real estate experts warn that many of these facilities were designed so specifically for tech needs that they are difficult to repurpose. This presents challenges for cities that had invested in urban development centered around daily activity in tech campuses. Now they face a void that is not only physical, but also symbolic. About 37 percent of tech workers laid off in 2022 have not been able to find employment in the tech sector. The time that workers stay unemployed after a layoff for workers with exactly a bachelor's degree, it has been skyrocketing. With nearly 6 in 10 tech workers fearing job loss due to the advancement of artificial intelligence, uncertainty in the sector is palpable. 85 percent of the 1800 people polled are worried about keeping their job in the new year. As if that weren't enough, job postings for tech positions have reached their lowest point in five years, signaling a labor market readjustment. Job listings there down between 30 and 40 percent. Despite all this, some indicators predict that 2025 could mark the beginning of a recovery in the tech labor market. With countless analysts forecasting an increase in demand for AI developers, it seems that the dark age of the tech sector may be coming to an end. So, will tech jobs come back? And if so, when? The tech labor market in the United States has undergone a profound transformation in recent years. Following an unprecedented boom driven by the pandemic, the industry entered a period of adjustment characterized by mass layoffs, reduced hiring, and a decline in salaries in the tech sector. There's been a significant decline in salaries. Across the U.S., our data shows that salaries have decreased for tech workers at about 12.1 percent. This contraction phase generated uncertainty about the future of tech employment, particularly among software developers, data engineers, and systems specialists. However, recent indicators suggest that 2025 could mark the beginning of a sustained recovery in the sector. According to a report, the industry is moving away from mass hiring strategies to focus on the quality of each new hire. It's really being thoughtful in terms of who we're going to hire, where we're going to hire, and we're keeping a very close eye on the compensation data. This shift, although less visible in total employment figures, represents an evolution toward a more skilled, specialized workforce adapted to an AI-dominated environment. The U.S. tech sector experienced rapid growth after the pandemic, with companies expanding their engineering teams to meet the increasing digitalization of the economy. In 2021, more than 260,000 new tech jobs were created in the United States, representing a 7 percent increase compared to the previous year. However, starting in 2022, the market began to cool down. Between 2022 and 2023, more than 300,000 tech workers were laid off. Companies such as Meta, Amazon, and Google led massive cuts, justifying these decisions as a natural correction after the overhiring of the post-pandemic period and the need to refocus resources in light of generative AI advancements. 150,000 tech workers have been laid off in 2022 alone. In this context, many companies significantly downsized their recruiting teams and froze new hires, while others opted to outsource part of their operations to contractors or offshore teams. According to a report, 28 percent of U.S. tech leaders prioritized hiring contractors outside the United States in 2024, up from 19 percent the previous year. Despite the setbacks of recent years, the outlook for 2025 shows positive signs. According to the same report, U.S. tech employers project an average of nearly 300 software developer openings, representing a 12 percent year-over-year increase. Although the figure is still far from pre-pandemic levels, it indicates an incipient recovery in demand for tech talent. This reactivation, however, does not imply a return to the previous model of explosive growth. Companies are adopting a more selective approach, prioritizing highly qualified candidates. This is reflected in a 12 percent increase in the average technical interview scores required to receive a job offer. In other words, a higher technical level is now required to secure employment, pointing to even greater professionalization in the sector. With the rise of artificial intelligence and an oversaturation of talent, actually getting a job as a software engineer is much more difficult now. Moreover, global hiring has become a dominant strategy. 81 percent of engineering leaders plan to hire overseas talent from countries like India and the Philippines. This trend responds not only to the search for cost efficiency, but also to large tech companies' desire to expand into more countries, mainly those with low labor costs. However, this shift toward internationalization also intensifies competition for local American workers. One of the main drivers of the labor market transformation is the rise of artificial intelligence. It is estimated that 60 percent of tech managers in the U.S. plan to hire AI engineers in 2025, up from 35 percent in 2024. This trend reflects the growing influence of AI in technology business models and in mass-market digital products. We're seeing about 20 percent increase over prior years' trajectory in hiring for tech workers, and a lot of that has been powered by AI. The demand for talent is not limited to purely technical roles like machine learning model development, but also includes cross-functional skills such as AI-API integration, data analysis, and the use of automated assistance tools in the programming process. The emergence of prompt engineering as a sought-after skill in the market illustrates how quickly professional profiles are being redefined. This pivot to AI is also reshaping the map of tech employers. Sectors traditionally outside Silicon Valley's core, such as financial services, are gaining ground in hiring tech workers. For instance, the percentage of computer science graduates from Cornell University entering the financial sector grew from 16 percent in 2022 to 22 percent in 2024. At Carnegie Mellon's Heinz College, the figure rose from 16 percent in 2019 to 19 percent in 2024. Companies like JPMorgan Chase, Goldman Sachs, and Citizens Financial Group are investing in artificial intelligence to modernize platforms and personalize services. This phenomenon offers new opportunities for tech professionals, but also requires a greater ability to adapt to regulated environments with high demands in terms of data security and privacy. The evolution of the tech labor market must be understood in the context of a broader U.S. labor market that, despite some signs of slowing down, continues to show remarkable resilience. According to the Bureau of Labor Statistics, in March 2025, the national unemployment rate stood at 3.8 percent, one of the lowest in the past 50 years. However, with nearly 4 in 10 laid-off tech workers unable to find employment in 2025, the general sentiment among workers tells a different story. The jobs market is in a really, really weird place right now. And there's this historic gap between the number of workers looking for employment and the number of jobs out there. Likewise, job creation has lost momentum. In the first three months of 2025, the average monthly job growth was 165,000 positions, below the 2023 average of approximately 250,000 tech jobs. This slowdown is hitting sectors like manufacturing, retail, and logistics the hardest. In the medium term, demand for workers with technical training or AI experience is expected to continue growing. The Bureau of Labor Statistics projects that occupations in data science, software development, and systems analysis will grow between 20 percent and 30 percent by 2032, well above the national job growth average of three percent. Tech employment in the United States is undergoing a redefinition. After a period of uncontrolled expansion, followed by a sharp adjustment, the industry appears to have found a new balance focused on talent quality, specialization in artificial intelligence, and expansion into global labor markets with lower labor costs. Despite recession predictions and then the Fed's tightening, even in tech where we've seen waves of layoffs and steep valuation declines, workers have largely been able to find open positions. Although the recovery in employment numbers will be gradual, there are solid foundations for a rebound in 2025 and beyond. This sector's rebirth will not replicate past growth patterns. Instead, it will demand new skills, greater adaptability, and a broader view of the labor ecosystem. The integration of artificial intelligence is shifting the boundaries of what it means to work in tech, opening opportunities in sectors such as finance, healthcare, and education. In short, tech jobs will return, but not as before. They will return with new requirements, in new industries, and under new rules. Those seeking to enter the reconfigured labor market will face the challenge of staying at the forefront of innovation, refining AI-related skills, and adapting to a constantly evolving work environment.