Comparison of Public and Private Sector Cybersecurity and IT Workforces

Format:

Book

Author/Creator:

Romanosky, Sasha

Contributor:

Johnson, Ryan

Schwindt, Karen

Language:

English

Place of Publication:

RAND Corporation 2023

Summary:

Direct workforce comparisons between U.S. Department of Defense (DoD) and private sector organizations are complicated because of available data and the different taxonomies used to classify cybersecurity and information technology (IT) workforces. On one hand, some data use the U.S. Bureau of Labor Statistics (BLS) Standard Occupational Classification (SOC) system, while other data use the Defense Cyber Workforce Framework (DCWF), an extension of the National Institute of Standards and Technology's workforce framework for cybersecurity. In this report, the authors update and extend previous RAND Corporation research conducted for DoD to support its zero-based review of cybersecurity and IT personnel. For the purpose of this research, the authors developed a common taxonomy across BLS SOC and DCWF schemes based on work roles, key tasks, and responsibilities. Using this common taxonomy, the authors examine the proportion of cybersecurity and IT work roles and workers' salaries across private and public sectors, as well as three technology-related industry sectors, using ten years of BLS data (2012–2021). The authors also examine the demand for these jobs as measured by job opening data from CyberSeek, an online data analysis tool supported by the National Initiative for Cybersecurity Education.