Belarus IT sector loses over 5.5 thousand people since beginning of year

More than 5.5 thousand people have left the Belarusian IT sector in the five months of 2022, reports dev.by, citing Belstat data. The 5.5 thousand people are the difference between those fired and those hired during this period.

From January to May 12, thousand of people were laid off. In May alone, 3.6 thousand specialists left their jobs. This is much more than in May last year (almost three times). Moreover, in May, 4.5 times more specialists were fired from IT companies than hired. Journalists note that the outflow of specialists has accelerated. Even in the challenging year of 2021, in January-May, there was an increase (+697 specialists). And before the pandemic and crisis periods, in 2019, this growth was even more impressive, with +1,709 people. 

At the same time, IT hiring figures are falling. This is the third month of decline. According to Belstat, 104 thousand people were employed in "Information technology and information service activities" in 2021. It turns out that over the five months of this year, the IT sector has lost more than 5% of employees. 

Earlier, Aliaksandr Lukashenka publicly acknowledged the departure of IT specialists from Belarus. In April, at a meeting with the head of the National Academy of Sciences of Belarus, Uladzimir Husakou and Minister of Communications and Information Kanstantsin Shulhan, he said that "some IT specialists are still leaving, and their number is not so low." Lukashenka then urged his ministers to "look at it from the security point of view -- how dangerous it is for Belarus." Since then, judging by Belstat data, the outflow of specialists has only increased.