• Tech job postings on Indeed plunged after a post-pandemic boom and have been quite weak since mid-2023. As of early July 2025, they were down 36% from their early-2020 levels. Some observers link this trend to a hangover from the earlier boom, while others emphasize that artificial intelligence (AI) could be reducing demand for tech workers.
• There isn’t a smoking gun linking the plunge to the rise of AI. Nearly half of the net decline in tech postings from their peak occurred before Chat-GPT 3 went public, and tech postings have eased similarly to the rest of the economy since late 2023. However, AI could be a reason tech postings haven’t rebounded from their low levels.
• Local-level trends suggest broader economic conditions have had an impact, as tech job postings aren’t down as sharply in markets where non-tech postings have also been stronger (e.g., Atlanta, Austin).
• At the same time, the AI revolution is apparent in types of tech jobs still in demand: Jobs directly related to AI, such as machine learning engineers, are among the few tech jobs with postings still above early-2020 levels.
• The number of people working in tech and mathematics occupations ticked down in 2024, but remained quite elevated, highlighting how, so far, the hiring freeze has impacted tech job seekers more than employment itself. However, these diverging conditions can likely only persist for so long.

Editor’s Note: This is part of a series of pieces examining employment trends in the tech sector. For more on changes to the experience required of tech employees in recent years, please see our companion piece here.

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