CompTIA: Tech Hiring Posts Mixed Results

Technology staffing and occupations throughout the economy showed little change in January, according to an analysis of U.S. Bureau of Labor Statistics (BLS) data by CompTIA, a suburban Chicago-based trade association. Yet at the same time, employer job posting for tech positions increased 13% from December 2025 to January 2026.

Tech industry employment declined by an estimated 20,155 jobs in January, affecting workers in both technical and non-technical occupations. Telecommunications companies accounted for the bulk of the job losses, estimated at 15,000, and likely a combination of reductions in holiday seasonal workers in retail stores and broader telecom layoffs announced late in 2025.

Employment increased modestly in the IT and custom software services and systems design category, which accounts for nearly 2.4 million jobs in the total tech sector workforce of 5.25 million workers.

“The turnaround in services employment may indicate a shift toward capitalizing on investments in software and hardware,” said Seth Robinson, vice president, industry research, CompTIA.

Tech occupation employment, which encompasses technology professionals working in all industry sectors, declined by an estimated 2,000 workers. The unemployment rate for tech occupations rose to 3.6% in January, compared to the national unemployment rate of 4.3%. More than 6.6 million workers are employed in tech occupations in the U.S.

New job postings for technology positions totaled 220,420 in January. In all there were more than 465,000 active job postings for tech occupations last month, nearly 4% higher than the previous month. This follows a pattern seen in previous years where employers slow their hiring searches at the end of one calendar year and accelerate hiring activity to start the new year.

Tech job postings were also widely distributed geographically. Baltimore, Charlotte, Kansas City, Pittsburgh and San Francisco were among the major metropolitan markets that saw a 25% or higher increase in tech job postings last month.

Channel Impact^®
The mixed results show some level of opportunity for recovery.