See Ya, Tech Hubs: ‘Zoom Towns’ On the Rise

Workers within the ‘Great Resignation’ or ‘Great Reshuffling’ who quit their jobs last year cite low pay, no advancement opportunities, and feeling disrespected in the office as the top reasons for leaving. Around 31% of those that left their jobs noted they did so due to coronavirus impacts such as childcare challenges.

The lowest jobless rates seen since 1976 were posted by 10 states in the U.S. in January. Check out the list:

• Arkansas, 3.2%
• Georgia, 3.2%
• Indiana, 2.4%
• Kansas, 2.6%
• Mississippi, 4.6%
• Montana, 2.7%
• Nebraska, 2.2%
• Oklahoma, 2.7%
• Utah, 2.2%
• West Virginia, 4.1%

So-called ‘Zoom Towns’ are on the rise! As the pandemic has accelerated the growth of remote work opportunities, many workers, notably those in tech, are moving away from traditional tech hubs and into midsized cities that are more affordable. San Francisco, Austin, and Seattle are responsible for almost 50% of the tech job growth in the U.S. between 2015 and 2019…but also saw slower growth within year 1 of the pandemic. However, ‘Zoom Towns’ such as Minneapolis and Cincinnati have experienced skyrocketing growth.

For the first time since August 2020, IT employment has decreased. In February, IT jobs declined to around 5.4 million jobs (.04%). This equates to about 2,400 lost roles in spite of the 678,000 nonfarm jobs added during the same month. However, looking on an annual basis, IT jobs were up by 1.79% with engineering employment increasing month over month by .20% in February (2.67 million jobs) – an increase of 3.42% year-over-year. “Since emerging from its low of ebb brought on by the pandemic, IT employment has been essentially flat for last seven months,” TechServe Alliance CEO Mark Roberts said. “IT employment ticked down modestly for the first time in more than 18 months, reflecting an extraordinarily tight supply of technical talent.”

Enjoy Spring Break if it hits this week for ya!

Until next week,

Erin and Team BountyJobs