The loudest story in tech this year has been the layoff count — but the quieter headline underneath is that the buyers have changed. New research from Randstad, reported by CNBC on Thursday, finds banks, hospitals and other non-tech employers now paying more than tech companies for the same software engineers.
🔍 THE BOTTOM LINE
The AI skills market is no longer a tech-industry market. Randstad’s data shows non-tech employers bidding above tech salary bands — 13% more in banking, 17% more in healthcare and life sciences — while 55% of non-tech organisations say they are recruiting workers displaced by tech-sector layoffs. Your highest bidder may not work in tech at all.
The Numbers Behind the Bidding War
Randstad’s 2026 Tech Talent Report surveyed 1,100 decision-makers across 11 countries, including the US, UK, Australia and Japan, against more than 20 million job postings. Three findings stand out:
- Healthcare and life sciences companies pay up to 17% more for software engineers than tech firms do — the largest premium of any sector measured.
- Banking pays a median 13% premium for the same talent, per the report.
- Job postings requiring AI capabilities grew fivefold in a year, and entry-level tech jobs requiring AI skills are up fivefold since 2025.
Randstad chief executive Sander van ‘t Noordende framed the shift on CNBC’s Squawk Box Europe: businesses now “see massive potential in AI, realising business cases that they were not able to realise before” — the investment wave is moving from tech companies toward organisations adopting AI.
For engineers, that reframes the layoff headlines. Challenger, Gray & Christmas counts 165,925 US tech job cuts announced in the first nine months of 2026, up 54% on last year. But the same talent is being bid for from the other side of the economy: 55% of Randstad’s non-tech organisations said they are actively recruiting workers following tech-sector layoffs.
What the Money Is Actually For
The premium is not for generic coding. As AI automates routine execution, Randstad’s report puts demand on people who can orchestrate and govern it: 61% of employers said communication and stakeholder skills are harder to source than technical ability, and demand for risk-governance capability doubled. Van ‘t Noordende called day-one AI fluency plus “judgment, communication and governance skills” the hardest combination to hire for.
That matters because it changes who gets the premium. A hospital hiring at +17% is not buying LeetCode performance; it is buying an engineer who can talk to clinicians, read a compliance framework and ship a system regulators accept. Banking carries the same logic — audit trails and risk governance weigh real money there. Candidates pairing technical depth with governance or domain fluency are sitting where pay is rising.
The Demand Side Beyond Tech
The direction is not limited to one survey. EY-Parthenon’s Canada CEO Outlook, published Wednesday, polled 50 leaders of large Canadian companies and found 82% expect AI to change roles, skills and workplace organisation more than workforce size over the next three years — “higher output without additional headcount” is already the primary productivity measure, according to managing partner Shane Dunn. TD Economics argues task exposure “should not be confused with outright job losses” and calls mass AI job losses a risk scenario, not the base case.
None of this means the adjustment is painless — Randstad’s data shows women holding just 31% of emerging AI-skilled roles, echoing our earlier read of LinkedIn data on women shut out of the AI hiring boom, and the premium sits in roles that take years to qualify for. The closest NZ read on the demand curve is last month’s finding that most AI postings sit outside the tech sector, which matches Randstad almost exactly. But the strongest signal in this month’s data is sectoral, not technical: the money is moving into industries that until recently hired technologists on sufferance.
What It Means for New Zealand
NZ tracks this in miniature. PwC’s AI Jobs Barometer found local AI job ads more than doubled in a year, concentrated in organisations adopting AI — banks, insurers, health providers, government agencies — rather than a domestic tech sector that is small by global standards. The Reserve Bank’s read on AI narrowing the graduate ladder points the same way. The premium, locally as internationally, sits with the bank, health organisation or insurer investing in AI delivery — not with a job title.
❓ FAQ
Are banks really paying software engineers more than tech companies?
Yes — Randstad’s 2026 report found a median 13% premium in banking and up to 17% in healthcare and life sciences against tech-sector pay for equivalent roles.
Is this happening while tech layoffs continue?
Yes — and the two are linked. Randstad found 55% of non-tech organisations are recruiting in the wake of tech-sector layoffs, and Challenger data counts 165,925 announced US tech job cuts in the first nine months of 2026. Displaced workers are, on this evidence, largely being re-absorbed by employers outside tech — consistent with what our October jobs-data read found.
What AI skills are employers actually paying for?
Technical plus governance: AI orchestration, communication and risk-governance skills, with demand for the last doubling. Employers rated communication skills harder to source than pure technical ability.
Is this relevant to New Zealand job seekers?
The direction is. NZ AI job ads roughly doubled year-on-year per PwC, and the payers are adopters — banks, insurers, health organisations — matching the Randstad picture.
🔍 THE BOTTOM LINE
Layoff counts and hiring premiums describe the same labour market from two sides. Tech is shedding; banks and hospitals are bidding 13-17% over tech rates to absorb the same skills. The highest-paying customers of AI talent in 2026 are increasingly outside the tech industry — and they pay extra for the governance and communication skills engineers are often told to leave at home.
📰 Sources
- Randstad — Tech Talent Report 2026 press release
- CNBC — Banks and healthcare firms are outbidding tech for software talent
- Challenger, Gray & Christmas — October 2026 job cuts report
- CBC News — EY-Parthenon Canada CEO Outlook
- TD Economics — Gen AI intelligence report
— CJ Murden, editor of Singularity.Kiwi. Former digital technologies teacher, author of AI-focused books. Writing with a New Zealand focus.
