Though Tech Layoffs Persist, Skilled Engineers Are in Demand

In 2024, the technology sector saw yet more layoffs after massive cuts in 2022 and 2023. Though the pace was somewhat slower last year, more than 150,000 employees were laid off across hundreds of companies, according to Layoffs.fyi, a site started during the COVID-19 pandemic to track tech layoffs around the world. The largest single cut came in August, when Intel cut 15 percent of its workforce—roughly 15,000 roles—by, for example, consolidating its sales and marketing team. To start the new year, in January 2025, tech companies announced another 5,000 layoffs. More than half of these are from Meta’s 5 percent workforce cut.

Despite these numbers, however, engineers seem to be doing just fine. U.S. employment for electrical engineers is expected to grow 9 percent from 2023 to 2033, compared with 4 percent for all occupations, according to the U.S. Bureau of Labor Statistics (BLS). And among IEEE members, the median income of U.S. engineers and other tech professionals was US $174,161 in 2023, up 5 percent from the year prior, IEEE-USA’s annual survey found in September.

More recently, the World Economic Forum’s Future of Jobs Report 2025, based on 2024 data, revealed that technology-related roles are the fastest-growing categories globally, with the most rapid growth in demand anticipated for big data specialists, financial-technology engineers, AI specialists, and software developers. The report also predicted growth in engineering fields, including environmental and renewable energy, robotics, and electrotechnology engineering.

The upshot: While many tech companies continue to restructure, highly skilled tech experts remain in demand.

Tech Skills In Demand

The Future of Jobs Report also looked at skills that employers across all industries consider important. It found the biggest increase in three categories of technology skills: AI and big data skills, networks and cybersecurity, and technology literacy.

The sectors of telecommunication and automotive and aerospace are particularly interested in AI and big data skills; 100 percent of businesses surveyed in those fields said these skills will grow in importance over the next five years.

Given these anticipated changes, employees will need to receive training to improve their performance in current or new roles. For example, 96 percent of employers in telecommunications plan to upskill and reskill their workforces, the report found.

At the same time, nontechnical skills are also expected to rise in importance and complement technology expertise. It will be essential for workers to be capable of creative thinking, resilience, flexibility, and lifelong learning.

In fact, many companies currently look at nontechnical abilities when hiring new engineers, says Julia Lapan, assistant dean for career development at the University of Virginia School of Engineering & Applied Science. While technical know-how is important for young engineers, “the bottom line is, once students get out into the working world, they’re going to have to continuously learn,” Lapan says. “We all have to be willing to adapt.”

An Engineering Recruiter’s View

Although many companies have scaled back on hiring in general, the job market for electrical engineers in the United States remains aggressive, says George Santos, the managing director of the Naperville, Ill.–based recruiting firm 180 Engineering. “It’s a good time to be an engineer,” he says.

In Santos’s experience, lately there has been more demand for embedded and firmware engineers, and for those with controls or automation experience. With the rise of smart manufacturing comes sophisticated machinery that involves many sensors and an abundance of data transmission. Electrical engineers will “play a crucial part” in building and maintaining those automated systems, says Santos, who anticipates growth in the semiconductor and renewable energy sectors as well.

According to the BLS, demand for electrical and electronics engineers in semiconductor manufacturing is expected to grow by 15 percent from 2023 to 2033—and the semiconductor industry pays its EEs well, with a median annual wage of nearly $145,000. The BLS also projects that demand for EEs in solar and wind electric power generation will grow substantially over the same time period, though they remain a small portion of overall employment.

Finding a specialization can help new engineers get ahead, Santos adds. “It’s going to make you more valuable in the market.” Having a background in something like power electronics or embedded firmware will make a candidate stand out. “There’s not a whole lot of those folks around,” he says.

Return to Office

Beyond the industries or specialties, it’s clear where engineers and tech employees are less likely to find jobs in 2025: at home.

Almost five years after the COVID-19 pandemic made remote work ubiquitous, many tech companies are bringing their employees back to the office. Amazon and Dell, for example, now require employees to work in the office five days per week. Many others, including Apple, Google, and Meta have taken a hybrid approach and require at least three days in the office each week.

The U.S. government has also followed suit, with the Trump administration’s return-to-office mandate issued on the first day of Donald Trump’s second term as president. As of May 2023, roughly 21,000 electrical and electronics engineers were employed by the federal government.

The push for in-person work, intended to increase productivity, is unpopular with many employees. In fact, these mandates may cause top talent to leave—a trend already being seen at some powerful tech companies.