Fred: Software Development Job Postings on Indeed in the United States (opens in new tab)

The graph is a bit misleading, at least on mobile. The y-axis starts at 60. The data is also limited.

Edit: It's base 100 so my critique is unfair.

OK clearly biased by the selection: https://www.bls.gov/opub/ted/2024/job-openings-rate-at-4-9-p...

Here is total employment for "Computer Systems Design and Related Services" going back all the way to 1987. This is the best category I can find that includes data over a decade+ time frame.

https://fred.stlouisfed.org/series/IPUMN54151W200000000

This category is defined by the BLS as "establishments primarily engaged in providing expertise in the field of information technologies through one or more of the following activities: (1) writing, modifying, testing, and supporting software to meet the needs of a particular customer; (2) planning and designing computer systems that integrate computer hardware, software, and communication technologies; (3) on-site management and operation of clients' computer systems and/or data processing facilities; and (4) other professional and technical computer related advice and services."

Yeah, using 2020 as a baseline for most industries is fine, but in the case of software the anomalous job market really started by 2014.

I doubt all the tracked job titles are in the example, but they do aggregate job titles to the category of 'Software Development':

https://github.com/hiring-lab/job_postings_tracker/blob/mast...

And they do aggregate from other sources:

https://www.hiringlab.org/indeed-data-faq-2/

It seems every major job posting platform gets overran with spam and eventually candidates move to a new platform every ~5 years.

First it was CareerBuilder, then Monster, then Dice, and now Indeed is having its day in the sun too. I wonder if the emergence of GenAI in the past 2 years have accelerated the spamification of Indeed and thus its demise. I’ve posted there and within minutes get hundreds of AI-generated “candidates” with practically the same resume/CV.

This is job openings in general, OP's is software development.

Those graphs finish higher than the initial dip. The software one does not. But yes, the same overall shape.