US software developer jobs rise to 2.5 million since ChatGPT

6 articles · Updated · ZDNet · Apr 30

Boston University professor James Bessen, citing Bureau of Labor Statistics data, said US software developer employment reached a record 2.5 million in February, up more than 400,000 from 2022.
He argued AI is raising productivity by 30% to 50% or more, but stronger software demand means employment is still growing rather than collapsing.
The work is shifting toward software design, cloud and security skills, Python and supervising AI coding agents, while fears of mass developer unemployment appear overstated for now.

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