Even the AI sector is feeling the Covid-19 slowdown.
As per a newly published report compiled by LinkedIn’s Economic Graph Research Insights team, which looked at the health crisis’ implications for the most impacted sectors, the coronavirus pandemic impacted the demand for AI talent from employers as well as enthusiasm from job applicants.
The report which covered the time period from March 16 to May 24 and a pre-COVID-19 period from January 6 to March 15, found that the virus had an adverse effect on the AI talent demand. For the 10 weeks immediately following mid-March, the growth rate has slowed down. Listings for AI roles dropped to only 4.6% year-over-year compared with 14% prior to the outbreak, while applications, which were growing at 50.8% year-over-year, dipped to 30.2% COVID-19.
AI Talent Demand Highlights from the Linkedin Report
1] The COVID-19 outbreak dampened the demand for such talent from employers as well as enthusiasm from job applicants. The good news is that the overall job market for AI specialists in the U.S. appears to be still growing compared to last year and it may very well be that this setback is temporary.
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2] During the 10 weeks prior to the COVID-19 outbreak both job listings and applications for AI specialist roles were growing significantly compared to the same time period one year ago. During the ten weeks immediately following the COVID-19 outbreak, however, growth rates in both slowed down.
3] Specifically, job listings for such roles grew at 14.0% YOY before the COVID-19 outbreak and slowed down to only 4.6% YOY. Job applications grew at 50.8% YOY before the COVID-19 outbreak and dipped to 30.2% YOY post-COVID.
AI job postings fared better while AI job applications slowed down even more
AI jobs posted directly on the LinkedIn platform increased 8.3% during the ten weeks after the COVID-19 outbreak in the U.S. when normalized against overall job postings. This suggests that employers do still appear to be prioritizing the hiring of these specialists despite an overall slowdown in demand for talent.
In contrast, AI job applications dropped 14.1% during the ten weeks after the COVID-19 outbreak in the U.S., compared to the 10 weeks prior, when normalized against overall job postings. This suggests that candidates may be playing it safe during a period of uncertainty.