The Market of Programming Skills: Market Tightness and Pay Equity

The demand for programming skills has grown dramatically in recent years, driven by the growth of the technology sector and the increasing importance of software in the global economy. As a result, understanding the market for programming skills is critical for policymakers, employers, and workers alike. This paper aims to contribute to this understanding by examining the dynamics of the programming skills market from both the demand and supply sides. Specifically, we use job posting data from Burning Glass Institute and search intensity data from Google Trends to construct a measure of market tightness, which captures the gap between the supply and demand of various programming languages. We then investigate how this measure of market tightness is related to the compensation of programming professionals, and how this relationship varies by gender, age, and other demographic characteristics. Our results shed light on the complex dynamics of the programming skills market and offer insights for policymakers and practitioners seeking to promote economic growth and workforce development.