Interest in the 61-year-old programming language COBOL has skyrocketed during the coronavirus crisis, but the actual number of jobs hasn't (IBM)

May 17, 2020 06:00 pm Cyber Security 391

The share of searches per million for the programming language COBOL on the job site Indeed grew 707% during the coronavirus crisis.

While job seekers are interested in the language — largely used for programming massive mainframe computers — the share of job postings per million that mention the term "COBOL" has only increased 6.47% since January.

New Jersey Governor Phil Murphy catapulted the language into the national spotlight when he made an urgent call for COBOL programmers to help the state's systems deal with the massive flood of unemployment claims resulting from the pandemic.

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Job seekers' interest in a vintage programming language has spiked in the wake of the coronavirus crisis, but the number of jobs requiring those skills hasn't caught up.

Searches for the 61-year-old programming language COBOL on the job site Indeed skyrocketed a stunning 707% from March 1 to April 13, making it one of the fastest growing search terms ever on the site.

Created way back in 1959 under the authorization of the Department of Defense, the "Common Business-Oriented Language" was designed for business, finance, and administrative systems powered by mainframe computers from the likes of IBM or Hitachi. As PCs have replaced massive mainframes and developers turn to more modern languages, COBOL has largely phased out, although it still underpins some legacy systems, particularly in finance and government. In fact, IBM says that its Z series of mainframes, which run COBOL, are still used in 70% of the Fortune 100.

The language was catapulted into the national spotlight last month when New Jersey Governor Phil Murphy made an urgent c ..

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