Technology employment continues to hold steady to begin the new year, according to analysis of the latest labor market day by CompTIA, a nonprofit IT association based in suburban Chicago. Technology companies added 17,600 workers in December, with job gains recorded in four of five sector categories, according to the association’s analysis of U.S. Bureau of Labor Statistics data.
It was the 25th straight month of net employment growth in the tech industry.
Employers throughout the economy added an estimated 130,000 tech workers in December, helping to drive down the tech occupations unemployment rate to 1.8%, compared to the overall national rate of 3.5%.
Job postings for future tech hiring declined for the second consecutive month, but still totaled more than 246,000 in December. Positions for software developers and engineers accounted for nearly 30% of last month’s jobs postings. IT support specialists, IT project managers, systems engineers and network engineers were also in demand.
“Another wave of positive tech employment data speaks to the many moving parts of a complex labor market,” said Tim Herbert, chief research officer at CompTIA. “Despite the layoffs there continues to be more employers hiring tech talent than shedding it.”
Washington, New York, Chicago, Los Angeles, and Dallas led the list of metro markets with the highest volumes of tech jobs postings. Among industry sectors, professional, scientific, and technical services (38,654), finance and insurance (33,538) and manufacturing (26,763) reported the most activity. CompTIA’s analysis also shows that 30% of all tech jobs postings are for positions in emerging technologies, such as artificial intelligence, or in roles requiring emerging tech skills.
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The report shows welcome data at a time when layoffs are dominating the headlines.