Newcastle tech jobs market shows strong annual growth despite "turbulent year"

Demand for technology professionals in Newcastle increased by 85 per cent in 12 months, despite the technology jobs market showing signs of easing during the first half of 2022, according to the latest UK Tech Talent Tracker from Accenture.

The tracker, which analyses LinkedIn’s Professional Network data, found growth in job posts was driven by Newcastle’s increased demand for skills in “cutting-edge” technologies, such as cloud (up 77 per cent year-on-year in July) and blockchain (up 69 per cent), as well as robotics (up 51 per cent), AI (up 41 per cent) and data analytics (up 33 per cent).

As these technologies evolve, demand for digital ethics professionals has also increased considerably (up 150 per cent) while companies also seek to invest in cyber-security (up 199 per cent). The increase in demand for technology professionals in Newcastle was the largest seen in any UK city year-on-year to July.

Other UK cities which helped drive the growth were Brighton (up 40 per cent), Birmingham (up 25 per cent) and Liverpool (up 23 per cent). Nonetheless, the rapid rise in UK technology hiring has shown signs of easing, with open technology roles declining by 4 per cent across the UK during the first half of 2022.

While the pool of UK technology professionals on LinkedIn grew during the pandemic from 730,000 in early 2020 to nearly 935,000 professionals in July 2022, the current availability of technology professionals continues to be outpaced by demand.

Allan King, North East lead at Accenture, commented: “Despite a turbulent year, demand for technology skills has remained resilient across the UK. Here in Newcastle, we are seeing companies push ahead with projects to further improve their offering to clients, through the use of technologies like cloud, blockchain and AI.”

“Despite the recent ease in hiring, finding the best technology talent continues to be a high priority among organisations competing for digital skills in a tight talent pool. Business leaders in Newcastle must build on this growth in demand over the last 12 months to further enhance the city’s reputation as a leading technology centre.”

By Matthew Neville – Correspondent, Bdaily

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