Despite COVID-19, semiconductor companies have seen only a moderate slowdown in recent hiring of engineers and designers, according to data compiled by a large semi trade group.
SEMI reported just 13% of more than 300 of its global industry members in a June survey reported a hiring freeze, while 55% globally said their hiring plans remain unchanged. The percentage of “unchanged” was about 48% for North America.
Separately, members of SEMI’s workforce development council reported 15% were in a full hiring freeze in June, while about 57% had no change in hiring plans.
In a third example, SEMI cited Emsi, a labor data analytics firm, that nearly 199,326 total jobs were posted from March through June in the U.S. semi equipment and device manufacturing sectors. The advertised median annual salary was $68,500. It was the highest number of positing for all other occupations and companies in the U.S.
That job postings number was down from the previous quarter, but some larger companies had a growing number of postings.
The recent Emsi numbers showed software engineers were the largest group of posted job titles from March until June, with more than 19,000 postings, followed by design engineers (10,215), product managers (4,879), program managers (3,239) and others.
Emsi has also seen companies doubling down on employee training during COVID-19.
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