CompTIA: Tech Hiring Activity Outpaces Expectations

The unemployment rate for technology occupations dropped below 3% in June as companies added tech professionals to their payrolls, according to CompTIA, an industry association based in suburban Chicago.

Tech occupation employment, which encompasses companies in all industry sectors, increased by an estimated net new 90,000 workers for the month, according to CompTIA’s analysis of monthly data from the U.S. Bureau of Labor Statistics (BLS).

The tech unemployment rate fell back below three percent to 2.8%, compared to 3.4% in May. The tech unemployment rate remains consistently lower than the benchmark national rate.

Tech sector companies reduced staffing by a net 7,256 positions across all job role types in June. The tech manufacturing sector accounted for the largest share of job losses, mirroring the broader uncertainty in U.S. manufacturing activity. Following their common practice, the BLS issued an upward revision to last month’s tech sector employment figures, boosting the gain by 400% to a net new 7,600 workers added to payrolls.

“Tech employment showed surprising strength for the month given recent expectations,” said Tim Herbert, chief research officer, CompTIA. “It’s worth pointing out there is more to tech hiring than AI. The data continues to confirm employer hiring activity across many tech talent domains.”

Active employer job listings for tech positions reached 455,341 in June, with 47% of the total (211,924) newly added last month, according to CompTIA analysis of Lightcast job posting data. Demand was strongest for software developers and engineers, systems engineers and architects, tech support specialists, cybersecurity engineers and architects, and network engineers and architects.

The AI Hiring Intent Index component of CompTIA’s Tech Jobs Report continues to show the relative growth of employer hiring for an increasingly wide range of positions that now require some degree of AI fluency skills. Job listings for this category of hiring were up 153% for the month compared to the same period in 2024. Hiring for dedicated AI specialists, such as AI architects or AI engineers, is also growing rapidly but remains limited to certain types of employers.

Employers continue to look at skills-based hiring to expand the candidate pool to fill tech staffing needs. Nearly 50% of June job postings did not specify a requirement for a four-year degree. These jobs are in a range of technology disciplines, including network support, tech support, database administration, network and systems administrators and web developers.

Channel Impact^®
The data show a sense of optimism in an industry that is still seeing substantial reductions-in-force at the company level.