Forward deployed engineering (FDE) job postings should exhibit Jevons Paradox dynamics, increasing as the cost of software development falls, because elastic demand and substitution cause total quantity consumed to rise.

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When you look at a chart of FDE job postings, you should see the Jevons Paradox in action: when demand is elastic and substitution is possible, a fall in unit cost can increase both quantity consumed and total expenditure - the cheaper input captures a larger share of the bundle.

Rising FDE job postings would indicate growing employment in a skilled category even as per-unit software costs fall, which is positive for that segment of the labor market.

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