If you are weighing up a change of job and your skills involve securing networks or deploying AI agents, this week’s hiring data is quietly on your side. Research from recruitment firm Robert Half, reported by IT Pro and SC Media, found that 47 per cent of UK employers intend to increase their technology headcount before the end of the year.
The breakdown is more telling than the headline. Cybersecurity is the single most wanted skill, sought by 54 per cent of employers, followed by agentic AI at 50 per cent and generative AI at 48 per cent. Cloud skills sit at 44 per cent. Two features worth noticing: agentic AI, the category of systems that carry out tasks rather than just answer questions, nearly ties cybersecurity on the first year it has featured prominently in this kind of survey. And a quarter of businesses said they are increasing contract and project-based tech hiring, which tells you employers want capability without permanent payroll.
The demand is running ahead of supply, and that gap has a price tag. Research reported by Business Matters found skills gaps cost more than a third of UK firms at least £380,000, and the government’s own cyber security labour market research, published this month, tracks the shortage directly.
Two other data points round out the picture. The UK’s gender pay gap in STEM ranks 28th in Europe, which is one measure of how unevenly the talent pool is being used, and a separate survey this month found UK firms are extending the life of legacy systems even as AI spending rises, which suggests the money is flowing into keeping the lights on at least as much as new capability.
The Robert Half findings come from employer intentions, not confirmed hires, and intentions can wobble. But when half of a country’s employers say the same thing in the same quarter, the direction stops looking like a trend and starts looking like a market.
