A report due to be launched by Robert Walters in time for Cybersecurity Awareness Month has found the volume of new jobs created for cybersecurity professionals is on track to increase by +16 per cent, compared to pre-pandemic. Of all the tech-related roles advertised in the UK, 5 per cent of this is now purely for cybersecurity – up from 4 per cent last year.
However, the Cybersecurity UK Labour Trends Report 2024 has also found that in spite of 51 per cent of companies putting plans in place to increase their investment into cybersecurity this year, this hasn’t translated to salaries. Recruiter Robert Walters has reported a marked slowdown in this area despite it previously bucking broader industry pay trends.
“Changing jobs was traditionally viewed as an ideal opportunity to secure a significantly higher salary by cybersecurity specialists – however this year increases greater than 20 per cent are becoming far less commons commented Ajay Hayre – Principal Consultant, Cybersecurity at Robert Walters. “A lot of this can be put down to a difficult economic climate which has made it difficult for businesses to forward plan or confidently invest. Whilst the conclusion of the general election bought about some temporary relief, the October budget and potential for tax increases will continue to make a dent in employers’ confidence.”
Christian Toon – Head of Cyber Professional Services at global law firm Pinsent Masons added: “Investment in cyber should always be a risk-based decision, the appetite for risk can and does change. Some organisations are using the current economic climate to reevaluate this. If organisations can’t spend more, they are instead considering how their current spend can be more effectively used – such as support from other budget holders.”
In spite of wide-reporting on tech roles being down year-on-year, it was a different picture within the cybersecurity niche – and in the first quarter of 2024 job vacancies had jumped by +16 per cent. However by half year, cybersecurity roles have in fact decreased by -3 per cent.
Darius Goodzari – Business Director, Data Security & Infrastructure at Robert Walters put this trend down to the impact of geo-political events across the last 18 months – including the Ukraine invasion in February 2023. Such events, Darius argued: “may have led to some industries such as financial services overly recruiting for info-security specialists as a precaution, and what we are seeing this year is a levelling-out of this demand.”
