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In case you’re in search of a job in IT, likelihood is good that it’s an AI-related job, in keeping with knowledge from the College of Maryland and LinkUp, which discovered that the variety of AI jobs has elevated dramatically for the reason that launch of ChatGPT in late 2022 whereas the general job market–and the IT job market particularly–have softened.
Researchers from the College of Maryland Robert H. Smith Faculty of Enterprise labored with LinkUp to pour over job postings to detect developments that could be helpful for employers and staff alike. They shared the outcomes of their collaboration in a visible method through UMD-LinkUp AI Maps, which they claimed was the primary instrument for mapping the creation and distribution of jobs throughout the US.
The brief story of what they discovered is that there was an enormous uptick in AI-related jobs for the reason that fall of 2022, whereas on the similar time the variety of IT associated jobs has dropped. Particularly, the researchers discovered that the variety of AI job postings grew by 68% from the fourth quarter of 2022 to the fourth quarter of 2024, to a complete of 49,577 jobs throughout the US. On the similar time, the variety of IT jobs decreased by 27% to 354,070 jobs throughout the identical time interval.
The researchers name this the “ChatGPT Impact.” Apparently, OpenAI launched ChatGPT throughout a nadir in AI jobs, in keeping with knowledge on the LinkUp AI Maps web site. Solely 7,025 AI jobs had been posted in December 2022, in comparison with 26,430 in October 2021. Employers had almost 25,000 open AI jobs as just lately as March 2022 earlier than they plummeted by greater than two-thirds by the top of the 12 months.
What’s extra, regardless of the ChatGPT Impact, we now have but to achieve these frothy October 2021 heights. The newest month for AI jobs, April 2025, exhibits that employers posted advertisements for 23,208 AI jobs that month.
Nearly all of AI jobs are concentrated in 5 industries (Picture supply: through UMD-LinkUp AI Maps)
That could be because of the total decline within the job market. From the fourth quarter of 2022 to the fourth quarter of 2024, the variety of all job postings declined by 17%. The unemployment price has additionally elevated. It went from a historic low of three.5% in September 2022 to 4.3% in July 2024. The present unemployment price is 4.2%.
Whereas the variety of AI jobs–which the researchers outline as a job that requires AI abilities–continues to be a small fraction of the general variety of IT jobs, the ratio of AI jobs to total IT jobs has greater than doubled. It went from 8.3% of all jobs in late 2022 to 19.2% over the roles in late 2024, in keeping with the researchers.
The researchers additionally discovered that just about the entire AI jobs listings exist in one in every of 5 sectors: Skilled, scientific, and technical providers; data; manufacturing; finance and insurance coverage; and retail commerce. These “Large 5” industries accounted for 89% of the AI jobs, whereas accounting for less than about 47% of all jobs. By comparability, well being care and social help and meals providers account for nearly 28% of all jobs, however solely had 1.5% of AI jobs.
One of many causes for this variation is that firms in less-technically superior sectors have primarily outsourced a lot of their AI work to providers companies. Accenture, Deloitte, EY, PwC, Booz Allen and their friends belong to the skilled, scientific, and technical providers sector, the researchers say within the group’s second white paper, “Diffusion of AI Jobs Throughout Financial Sectors.”
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