Recruitment edition
Banks and healthcare companies now offer software developers higher salaries than tech companies, Randstad reports, while tech companies are laying off many people.
Banks and healthcare companies now pay software developers more than tech companies do
Employers outside tech now offer software developers higher salaries than tech companies themselves. This is shown by research from staffing agency Randstad. Healthcare and life sciences companies pay up to 17% more. Banks pay 13% more.
The number of job openings that require AI skills has grown five times in one year. Of the employers outside tech, 55% say they are hiring people after layoffs in the tech sector.
The layoffs are big. In the first nine months of 2026, American tech companies announced 165,925 layoffs. That is 54% more than a year earlier. Microsoft is offering voluntary buyouts to 60,000 employees. Meta laid off around 8,000 people in May. Block laid off more than 4,000 people in February.
Are you an HR professional looking for software developers or people with AI skills? Then you are not only competing with tech companies. Banks and healthcare organisations also offer more. This can affect your salary benchmarks, the comparison with what other employers pay. The layoffs also bring experienced people onto the market. Other employers are actively recruiting them.
Background for subscribersIf you are hiring developers or people with AI skills, you also compete with healthcare and life sciences companies (up to 17% more) and banks (13% more). So include these sectors when you compare salaries. Because of layoffs in tech, experienced people are coming onto the market, and 55% of employers outside tech say they are hiring them.
Six conditions for testing oversight of recruitment AI
A review from Abertay University in Scotland gives recruiters and buyers six conditions to test whether oversight really works. Examples are time to check, the authority to deviate from a score and a re-assessment for candidates. The author calls this a framework, not a new rule. The study has limits. It uses no new data and is not a full systematic review. Its conclusions are therefore a critical summary of existing sources.
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