As searches by curious job seekers tend to be more frivolous than real vacancies, the difference between the two trends is not surprisingLeading employment website Indeed.com has released informative statistics about the activities of visitors on its job search engine. In particular, searches related to blockchain technology and cryptocurrencies have shown some huge year-on-year increases despite a recent fall off, presumably reflecting a dent in interest due to the recent deflation of bitcoin.
The number of blockchain-related job postings increased by 25.5 per cent between October 2017 and October 2018, reaching the highest level ever in mid-summer 2018; however, in the previous year – 2016-2017 – there had been a 325 per cent increase. Although there has been a calming of interest in the last quarter, demand for skills in these areas is still at a level almost seven times higher than just two years ago. Big consulting firms such as Deloitte, KPMG, EY, Accenture and IBM are offering the bulk of these vacancies, although there were also a significant number at JP Morgan.
Over the same period, vacancy enquiries in the same sector showed an even more dramatic rise, followed by a steady fall since peaking in December 2017. The net rise between October 2016 and October 2017 was over 480 per cent; however, it has shown a small overall decline of three per cent in the year since.
As searches by curious job seekers tend to be more frivolous than real vacancies, the difference between the two trends is not surprising; however, as Indeed.com economist Andrew Flowers has pointed out, this does mean that searches by prospective jobseekers have technically declined by 67 per cent over the same period that actual opportunities rose by almost 90 per cent. Both graphs are looking steadier in recent months.
Possibly of more concern to job hunters will be the fact that consultants greatly outnumber banks and investment companies in creating these vacancies. This is to be expected with a technology that is still under development, but it could be read to imply that the major financial institutions are still playing a watch-and-wait game.
Deloitte’s leading position is no surprise, since it has been a forerunner for some time and is very actively exploring roles for blockchain that go far beyond bitcoin and are certainly not dependent on bitcoin’s fortunes on the exchanges.
JP Morgan president Jamie Dimon would echo this sentiment. Although well known for his disdain of bitcoin, JP Morgan has simultaneously been developing its own in-house cryptocurrency, which was announced in February, and preparing for a future in which blockchain technology will have a key role in the conduct of financial and contractual transactions.
Indeed’s statistics. which were gathered globally, suggest that the greatest number of vacancies have arisen in the United States and specifically New York, San Francisco and San Jose. It should be borne in mind that trends on Indeed.com are influenced by Indeed’s own market position amongst competing job boards, which will vary from region to region.
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