CompTIA: SMB Hiring Apparent in Tech Services Employment Gains

Small and medium-sized businesses (SMBs) in the tech services and software sector have continued to hire new employees, according to analysis of U.S. Bureau of Labor Statistics (BLS) data by CompTIA, a suburban Chicago-based industry association.

In the aggregate, tech sector employment in November was essentially unchanged from the previous month, the CompTIA analysis reveals. The base of tech sector employment stands at nearly 5.6 million workers spanning technology infrastructure, telecommunications, software, and services.

Companies in the tech services and software development sector added an estimated 2,900 new hires for the month. The segment of the industry has recorded employment growth in nine of 11 months this year. Among all companies in the tech services and software development sector, 99.9% are classified as SMBs. They account for 84% of employment in the tech services and software sector. Cloud infrastructure and related positions have had seven months of positive results.

Tech occupations throughout the economy declined by 210,000 last month. The unemployment rate for tech occupations fell to 1.7%, less than half the national unemployment rate (3.7%).

“With the gains in employer hiring intent for AI talent, the job posting data is finally catching up to the hype,” said Tim Herbert, chief research officer of CompTIA. “As an enabling technology, companies hiring for AI skills inevitably need to boost adjacencies in areas such as data infrastructure, cybersecurity and business process automation.”

Employer hiring activity as measured by job postings for tech positions totaled 155,621 for the month. Jobs associated with artificial intelligence (AI) made up 12% of the total, more than 18,000 postings. It’s the first time AI positions have surpassed the 10% threshold. Positions in emerging technologies or jobs that require emerging tech skills accounted for 26% of tech job postings last month.

California (15,193), Texas (14,403) and Virginia (10,103) had the highest volumes of tech job postings among the states. Washington, New York, Dallas, and Chicago led metropolitan markets. Professional, scientific, and technical services, administrative and support, manufacturing, finance and insurance and information were the most active industry sectors.

Channel Impact^®
Despite the continuation of layoffs in the tech industry, key segments continue to look for new employees.