CompTIA: Tech Employment Lags in Latest Jobs Report

The up-and-down trends that have characterized technology employment throughout 2023 continued in September, according to an analysis of Bureau of Labor Statistics data by CompTIA, suburban Chicago-based industry association.

Tech sector companies reduced staffing by a net 2,632 positions last month, according to the report. Tech occupations among all sectors across the economy fell by an estimated 20,000. But at 2.2% the tech unemployment rate remains well below the national rate of 3.8%.

“There is no sugar-coating the off month of tech employment data,” said Tim Herbert, chief research officer at CompTIA. “Despite the persistently high demand for tech skills on many fronts and positive forward-looking projections, there is a lag in hiring at the moment.”

Employer job postings for future tech hiring fell to 184,077 in September. Demand for software positions continues to drive the largest volume of hiring activity. Positions in emerging technologies or jobs requiring emerging tech skills accounted for 26.5% of all tech jobs postings last month, up from 22% in August. Within emerging tech job postings, 36% were associated with artificial intelligence.

Employers in the professional, scientific, and technical services, manufacturing, administrative support, finance and insurance and information sectors had the largest share of tech job postings. California, Texas, and Virginia had the largest volumes of tech job postings at the state level, while Washington, New York City and Dallas led metro markets.

Channel Impact^®
Channel companies have become quite familiar with ongoing workforce fluctuations.