IT job market continues to cool down
Based on data from the staffing agency Hays, IT specialists are still in demand, but not as much as before. The number of job advertisements continues to fall.
(Image: Me dia/Shutterstock.com)
Demand in the IT job market has continued to decline. This is according to the skilled labor index from the personnel service provider Hays, which is available to the iX editorial team. The job advertisements recorded by the provider for IT specialists thus fell to around 67,500 in the fourth quarter of 2025, continuing the downward trend of the year. Compared to the previous quarter, this represents a decrease of seven percent, and compared to the same quarter last year, it is even minus 18 percent.
Year-on-year, approximately one-fifth fewer positions were advertised. The market is moving further and further away from values well over 100,000 job offers, as Hays recorded from 2022 to early 2024. Apart from slight gains for database and SAP developers, the decline is evident in practically all IT jobs covered by Hays. For example, the number of advertisements for IT consultants, at just over 9,500, has fallen into the four-digit range for the first time since 2021.
IT professionals less affected than the overall market
However, the decline in IT jobs is less severe than the decline in demand for skilled workers in the overall market, Hays notes. According to the report, demand has continued to weaken in almost all economic sectors throughout 2025. The fourth quarter of 2025 showed a year-on-year decrease of 25 percent. The decline is particularly pronounced in the industrial and business-related service sectors. For engineers, the number of positions fell by around 11 percent quarter-on-quarter and by almost a third (32.3 percent) year-on-year. Demand for HR personnel collapsed similarly sharply, with a year-on-year decrease of 31.3 percent. According to Hays, the data includes job advertisements from the most frequently visited online job portals, daily newspapers, and the business network Xing.
Structurally, IT remains one of the skilled labor areas with the highest demand in 2025 due to digitalization, AI implementation, and automation, Hays is confident. Andreas Sauer, Head of Technology at Hays, explained: “Companies are reducing their hiring volumes, but they are not foregoing critical IT competencies. Demand remains structurally high, especially in the areas of software development, SAP, IT architecture, automation, and AI/Data. Digital transformation will therefore not be put on hold even in economically challenging phases, but will be pursued more selectively and strategically.”
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Whether 2026 will bring new momentum remains to be seen. The Institute for Employment Research still sees a labor market “without momentum” in January and no clear upturn considering the losses in industry. The Federal Government expects economic growth of 1.0 percent this year, as stated by Minister of Economics Katherina Reiche (CDU) when presenting the annual economic report. Last fall, Reiche had expected a gross domestic product (GDP) increase of 1.3 percent. In 2025, there was minimal growth of 0.2 percent.
(axk)
