CyberSeek, a recruitment data analysis platform supported by the Computing Technology Industry Association and the National Institute of Standards and Technology, revealed that the supply of cybersecurity workers does not meet the demand for cyber professionals in the U.S.
Data from CyberSeek’s career pathway tool shows that employers nationwide posted 597,767 online job listings for cybersecurity-related positions from October 2020 through September 2021 and only 68 percent of the available jobs can be filled in by available local cybersecurity professionals, CompTIA said Tuesday.
Of the available jobs, only less than 9,000 were for entry-level cybersecurity specialists, compared with almost 28,000 job openings for mid-level analysts and more than 61,000 vacancies for advanced-level engineers.
Rodney Petersen, director of the National Initiative for Cybersecurity Education at the NIST, said that the huge difference between the hiring for entry-level jobs and mid- to advanced-level cyber workers underscores the need for employers to create positions that offer growth and advancement opportunities.
Peterson noted that NICE outlines in its strategic plan the need to establish more entry-level positions “to recalibrate the availability of supply to the growth in demand.”
CyberSeek is a collaboration between NICE, nonprofit association CompTIA and job market intelligence provider Emsi Burning Glass.