The proportion of offshore oil and gas industry operations and technologies companies hiring for industrial automation related positions rose significantly in February 2022 compared with the equivalent month last year, with 83.3% of the companies included in our analysis recruiting for at least one such position.

This latest figure was higher than the 69% of companies who were hiring for industrial automation related jobs a year ago and an increase compared to the figure of 76.9% in January 2022.

When it came to the rate of all job openings that were linked to industrial automation, related job postings dropped in February 2022, with 11.2% of newly posted job advertisements being linked to the topic. This latest figure was an increase compared to the 7.1% of newly advertised jobs that were linked to industrial automation in the equivalent month a year ago.

Industrial automation is one of the topics that GlobalData, from which our data for this article is taken, has identified as being a key disruptive force facing companies in the coming years. Companies that excel and invest in these areas now are thought to be better prepared for the future business landscape and better equipped to survive unforeseen challenges.

Our analysis of the data shows that offshore oil and gas industry operations and technologies companies are currently hiring for industrial automation jobs at a rate higher than the average for all companies within GlobalData's job analytics database. The average among all companies stood at 6.5% in February 2022.

GlobalData's job analytics database tracks the daily hiring patterns of thousands of companies across the world, drawing in jobs as they're posted and tagging them with additional layers of data on everything from the seniority of each position to whether a job is linked to wider industry trends.

You can keep track of the latest data from this database as it emerges by visiting our live dashboard here.