Hiring is on a definite upswing for IT pros, but a lack of qualified candidates is leaving many positions unfilled.

That’s according to Janco Associates, which just revised its 2018 forecast for IT job market growth from more than 80,000 to 78,400. With 13,700 net-new IT jobs in the last three months, Janco believes many IT pros who have stayed with their companies through the last several years will begin to look for new and better opportunities.

IT staff attrition rates will be a major concern for many CIOs and IT managers, it said.

“CIOs are finding it difficult to recruit qualified candidates,” said Janco CEO Victor Janulaitis. “The impact of the rapidly recovering economy is pushing demand for IT professionals as more organizations are expanding IT infrastructure with new e-commerce and blockchain applications. CIOs have the green light to expand budgets and staffing, but in many markets they cannot find qualified individuals to fill all of the open positions.”

Regulations like the new California Privacy Law and the General Data Protection Regulation (GDPR) for the EU, as well as cyberattacks, are driving demand for more individuals in security and information-protection roles as development of mobile-device applications, which enhance security and processing of internet-based transactions, increases, according to Janco.

“A good example of the increased demand for IT pros is the demand for information security analyst as the new California Privacy Law-and GDPR-mandated compliance requirements expand,” Janulaitis said. “In our review of over 100 large and midsize organizations, we found that fully one-quarter are not yet compliant with GDPR. With the increased dependence on the internet and cloud processing, the exposure that enterprises face can only be mitigated by filling those roles with qualified individuals.”

As a result, salaries for experienced information security analysts and the newly required position of data protection officer (for GDPR) are now well above $100,000, he said.

“In our 2018 Mid Year IT Salary Survey, we found that the median salary for all IT professionals is now $90,971,” Janulaitis said.” Most of the C-level executives Janco has interviewed are expecting the recovery to continue even with the impact of a trade war. They are planning for extensive growth and expansion. The only part of the IT job market that is not doing well is that of (the) telecommunications sector, which has lost over 30,000 jobs in the last 12 months.”