How COVID-19 Is Impacting the Market for Data Jobs Posted on : May 23 - 2020

The United States has shed nearly 10 million jobs in the past two weeks due to the COVID-19 shutdown, and there are some data science, data engineering, and data analytics positions among them. However, surveys indicate that data teams have yet to see widespread layoffs or furloughs at this time, particularly among larger companies. But workers at tech startups are susceptible to layoffs.

According to a March 27 Burtch Works survey conducted in partnership with the International Institute for Analytics, nearly 57% of the 300 survey respondents indicated no change to their staffing and hiring plans, and another 22% have instituted hiring freezes or are preparing for layoffs, but have taken no actions. About 5% have instituted “substantial” salary cuts, hiring freezes, or layoffs, while nearly 16% have instituted “some” measures in response to COVID-19.

“More layoffs and furloughs are being announced by the day,” Burtch Works says. “However, as of March 27, most analytics organizations are not yet feeling the crunch.”

Burtch Works also reports that workers in data-oriented positions (data scientists, engineers, analysts) were able to transition to work-from-home arrangements without too much difficulty. The focus of the data teams, however, has shifted and many projects have been frozen as coronavirus upends the global economy and changes daily life for billions of people.

COVID-19 has spurred a shift to analyze things like supply chain disruptions, speech analytics, and filtering out pandemic-related behavior, such as binge shopping, Burtch Works says. Data teams are being asked to create new simulations for the coming recession, to create scorecards to track pandemic-related behavior, and add COVID-19 control variables to marketing attribution models, the company says. View More