December
2025 Jobs Report
December
2025 Jobs Report
How are tech jobs faring in the hiring market?
The tech hiring market saw another challenging month in November, with tech job postings declining 15% month-over-month, marking a significant retreat from October levels. While December is typically a slow hiring month in the US, the year-over-year picture also showed a decrease, with tech job postings falling 10% compared to November 2024.
This monthly decline suggests companies are exercising greater caution in their hiring strategies as they face an uncertain economy and continue adapting to AI-driven workforce transformations.
AI skills demand continues its rapid growth. Fifty-three percent of U.S. tech job postings now require AI skills in November, up from 48% in October. This represents a substantial 64% increase from November 2024, reinforcing that AI capabilities continue to be a fundamental skill requirement across the technology sector. Our skills analysis reveals that the market currently demands professionals who are technically grounded (Python, SQL) but highly capable in management and communication. Simultaneously, there is a specific, rapid growth trend in building AI infrastructure and a surprising month-over-month jump in maintaining legacy software systems.
Where are tech job postings concentrated?
Our analysis revealed some encouraging selective growth amid broader market contraction. Manufacturing posted solid 36% growth, while Finance/Banking showed 26% gains. Aerospace/Defense rounded out the growth sectors with a 10% increase.
Year-over-year trends reinforce Manufacturing's notable increase in hiring with 99% growth, positioning it as the standout growth sector for tech jobs this month. Finance/Banking maintained strong momentum with 72% growth, while Insurance posted 48% gains. Aerospace/Defense showed healthy 45% growth, and the Technology sector managed a 17% increase despite broader market challenges.
These patterns suggest companies could be prioritizing operational flexibility and infrastructure investments over aggressive expansion projects.
Regional hiring patterns shift
At the state level, November brought contraction across all major tech markets. Notably, no states posted month-over-month growth, with the top five hiring states all experiencing declines: California (-10%), Texas (-16%), Virginia (-13%), New York (-19%), and Illinois (-16%).
Only three states posted year-over-year growth: New Jersey led with 14% gains, Illinois managed 5% growth, and California achieved a modest 1% bump.
Metro-level data reveals concentrated resilience in select West Coast markets. Chicago posted 4% year-over-year growth, while San Francisco and San Jose showed stronger performance with 10% and 11% gains respectively, indicating these markets may be stabilizing despite broader regional challenges.
However, the month-over-month picture was uniformly negative across major tech hubs. Atlanta experienced the steepest decline at 26%, followed by Dallas-Fort Worth (-17%) and Boston (-18%).
Who are companies hiring right now?
Month-over-month, Salesforce Technical Architects, Epic HIM and Beaker Analysts, Enterprise Solutions Architects, and Staff Data Engineers all grew above 150%, while Data Software Engineers and Machine Learning Data Scientists posted 120% growth.
Year-over-year trends reinforce this enterprise focus. Workday HCM Analysts led with 386% growth, highlighting that some organizations are planning to put significant emphasis in 2026 on their human capital management systems. AI roles showed strong demand, with AI Architects growing 249% and AI Engineers up 225%. Infrastructure Architects (189%) and Mainframe Systems Programmers (189%) reflect ongoing system modernization efforts.
The skills landscape emphasizes proven enterprise technologies. Eclipse (Software) led month-over-month growth at 91%, while Java ecosystem technologies like Hibernate (44%) and JUnit (23%) showed strength. COBOL's 26% growth likely reflects financial services modernization requiring legacy system expertise.
Year-over-year patterns reveal organizational maturation priorities, with Product Software Implementation Method (350%), Stakeholder Engagement (346%), and Team Management (336%) leading growth. Data Reporting (216%) and AI Infrastructure (200%) indicate AI's move from experimentation to production deployment.
Experience requirements signal market dynamics
The experience landscape shows hiring patterns that reflect broader market conditions. While all experience levels saw month-over-month declines of 14-16%, year-over-year trends show a clear preference shift toward mid-career and senior tech professionals.
Entry-level positions (0-3 years) and mid-level roles (4-6 years) declined year-over-year at 12% and 7%, respectively. Senior positions (7-9 years) posted growth at 2%, and highly experienced roles (10+ years) declined modestly by 2%.
The cumulative January-November data reinforces this trend. Entry-level postings decreased 3% compared to the same period in 2024, while mid-level positions grew 4%. Senior roles showed the most significant expansion at 13%, with highly experienced positions up 6%.
This pattern aligns with recent reports about challenging conditions for new graduates, as companies prioritize proven expertise and immediate productivity over training investments. The market appears to favor professionals who can deliver results quickly in an environment where organizations are being more selective about their hiring decisions.
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Methodology
To present the insights in this report, Dice used job posting data provided by Dice's partner, Lightcast, which has a database of more than 3 billion current and historical job postings worldwide. Dice pulled data on December 4, 2025 and analyzed over 7 million tech job postings in the U.S. to gather our specific dataset, which we then filtered for "Information Technology" jobs that fall under "Full Time," "Part Time" and "Flexible Hours." We gathered the list of top employers in the "Industry Analysis" section by using the above criteria, with an additional filter for job postings that only derive from employer sites. This report is based entirely on real-time job posting data and is independent of Bureau of Labor Statistics (BLS) employment reports. This Dice report provides timely labor market insights derived directly from employer hiring activity rather than survey-based employment statistics. The information in this report is a snapshot of tech job posting data as of December 4, 2025, and backward revisions to prior month's data may occur from the sources used in this report.
About Dice
Dice’s hiring solutions help thousands of companies find and filter through millions of quality technology professional profiles, so you can quickly fill your open roles with the best tech talent. Equipped with AI matching tools, employer branding solutions and hiring insights tailored to individual recruiting needs, Dice makes it easy for recruiters and HR managers to post their jobs, source ideal talent and elevate their brands all in one place. With a fresh perspective on connecting technology professionals to the companies that need them, Dice is the trusted way to hire and get hired in tech. To learn more about what Dice can do to elevate your tech hiring, visit Dice.com/hiring today.