CompTIA: Tech job gains higher than expected in October

Technology employment grew in October, offsetting the national narrative of a cooling jobs market, reports CompTIA, a suburban Chicago-based trade association.

Tech industry companies added an estimated 2,159 workers in October, according to CompTIA’s analysis of U.S. Bureau of Labor Statistics data. New hiring in tech services and custom software development powered job growth, a continuation of the trend for much of the year. Tech occupations across the economy increased by an estimated 483,000 jobs. The unemployment rate for tech occupations stands at 2.1%, compared to the national unemployment rate of 3.9%.

“Fair to say tech employment gains for the month exceeded expectations given the recent labor market swings,” said Tim Herbert, chief research officer at CompTIA. “Companies continue to focus on the technologies and skills that deliver meaningful business value.”

Employer hiring activity as measured by job postings totaled more than 167,000 for the month and more than 2.2 million year-to-date. Software developers, IT support specialists, systems analysts and data scientists are among the job roles in greatest demand. Employer hiring for artificial intelligence positions and skills continues to trend upward, although still a relatively small share of overall tech hiring activity.

California, Texas, Virginia, Florida, and New York had the highest volumes of tech job postings among the states. At the metro level, Washington, New York, Dallas, Los Angeles, and Chicago has the largest totals of job postings. Washington has been the top metro area for tech job postings for five consecutive months, and seven of the past 10 months. The Charlotte, Boston, San Diego, Cleveland, and Phoenix markets were also active in October, with month-over-month increases in employer postings for tech job openings.

About 20% of job postings offered work from home or remote work as an option. One-quarter were for positions in emerging technologies or jobs that require emerging tech skills, including 16,000 associated with artificial intelligence jobs and skills.

Channel Impact^®
Despite near continuous reports of layoffs in the tech industry, the numbers tend to fare well, compared to many other industries.