Tech industry employment experienced a net increase of 12,922 new positions, the largest monthly gain since April 2023, CompTIA’s analysis of U.S. Bureau of Labor Statistics (BLS) Jobs Report data reveals. Jobs were added in four of the five primary sub-sectors, led by technology services and software development (+8,500) and cloud infrastructure and related positions (+4,400). Tech manufacturing led by semiconductors also had a solid month (+1,600).

Technology occupations throughout the economy declined by 79,000 positions last month, according to CompTIA.’s report. The unemployment rate for tech occupations increased to 2.3%. In comparison the national unemployment rate stands at 3.7%.

Tech Employment Remains Optimistic 

“Tech employment remains on solid footing,” says Tim Herbert, chief research officer at CompTIA. “Despite the ongoing pattern of mixed signals in the labor market tracking data, the optimistic outlook continues to hold.”

Job postings for tech occupations also fell back. Active job postings for tech positions totaled nearly 364,000, including 142,295 newly added by employers in December, according to the CompTIA report. Employer hiring for artificial intelligence job roles and specialized skills continues to exceed the 10% threshold as a percentage of all tech job postings.

Industries with the largest volumes of tech job postings included professional, scientific and technical services; administrative and support services; and manufacturing. Among metropolitan markets, Washington, New York, Dallas, Chicago and Los Angeles had the most tech job openings. Meanwhile, Pittsburgh and Providence recorded modest month over month gains in postings.

The CompTIA Tech Jobs Report is available at comptia.org/content/tech-jobs-report.

Another version of this article originally appeared on our sister-site Commercial Integrator on January 5, 2024. It has since been updated for My TechDecisions’ audience.

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In July 2022, tech occupations across all industry sectors increased by an estimated 239,000 positions. The unemployment rate for tech occupations was 1.7% in July, according to CompTIA’s analysis of data from the U.S. Bureau of Labor Statistics (BLS).

Through the first seven months of 2022 U.S. companies listed approximately 3.1 million jobs postings for tech positions, an increase of 49% for the same period last year.

“The tech jobs market has repeatedly outperformed in the face of real and perceived economic weakness,” said Tim Herbert, chief research officer at CompTIA, in a statement. “The data confirms that for every layoff announcement there are other employers stepping in to take advantage of tech talent hiring opportunities.”

The tech job posting data from July shows that there are employment opportunities at every experience level, in a variety of occupation categories and in nearly every metro market and state across the country, says CompTIA. About one in five tech job postings were for positions requiring two years or less of experience. About half specified three to five years of experience, while 13% sought candidates with nine or more years of experience.

Software developers and engineers are the most in-demand positions employers are looking to hire – nearly 148,000 job postings last month. There is also a strong job market for IT support specialists, IT project managers, systems engineers and architects and network engineers and architects. Positions in emerging technologies or jobs requiring emerging tech skills accounted for one-third of all postings in July.

The New York City, Los Angeles and San Francisco metro markets recorded the largest month-over-month increase in tech jobs postings. But “under the radar” markets also populate this list:

Metro Area July Tech Job Postings Increase

Topeka, KS 1,437 627
Lansing, MI 1,810 570
Trenton, NJ 1,770 468
Huntsville, AL 2,195 324
Rochester, NY 1,222 283
Little Rock, AR 1,949 257
Oklahoma City, OK 1,764 207

Within the tech sector, three occupation categories recorded job growth in July – other information services, including search engines (+6,800), data processing, hosting and related services (+4,100) and computer and electronic products manufacturing (+3,300). Hiring in the IT services and custom software development category was flat, while telecommunications-related occupations declined (-1,400).

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The need for open source talent is strong in continuing cloud adoption and digital transformation across industries. As the pandemic wanes, both retention and recruitment have become more difficult than ever, with 73% of professionals reporting it would be easy to find a new role and 93% of employers struggling to find enough skilled talent.

Although the majority of open source professionals (63%) reported their employment did not change in the past year, one-in-three did report they either left or changed jobs, which puts additional pressure on employers trying to hold onto staff with necessary skills. .

“Every business has struggled with recruiting and retaining talent this past year, and the open source industry has been no different,” said Linux Foundation Executive Director Jim Zemlin, in a statement. “Organizations that want to ensure they have the talent to meet their business goals need to not only differentiate themselves to attract that talent, but also look at ways to close the skills gap by developing new and existing talent. ”

The tenth annual Open Source Jobs Report examines trends in open source careers, which skills are most in-demand, the motivation for open source professionals, and how employers attract and retain qualified talent. Key findings from the Open Source Jobs Report include:

1. There remains a shortage of qualified open source talent: The vast majority of employers (93%) report difficulty finding sufficient talent with open source skills. This trend is not going away with nearly half (46%) of employers planning to increase their open source hiring in the next six months, and 73% of open source professionals stating it would be easy to find a new role should they choose to move on.
2. Compensation has become a greater differentiating factor: Financial incentives including salary and bonuses are the most common means of keeping talent, with two-in-three open source professionals saying a higher salary would deter them from leaving a job. With flex time and remote work becoming the industry standard, lifestyle benefits are becoming less of a consideration, making financial incentives a bigger differentiator.
3. Certifications hit new levels of importance: An overwhelming number of employers (90%) stated that they will pay for employees to obtain certifications, and 81% of professionals plan to add certifications this year. The 69% of employers who are more likely to hire an open source professional with a certification also reinforces that in light of talent shortages, prior experience is becoming less of a requirement as long as someone can demonstrate they possess the skills to do the job.
4. Cloud’s continued dominance: Cloud and container technology skills remain the most in demand this year, with 69% of employers seeking hires with these skills, and 71% of open source professionals agreeing these skills are in high demand. At least 77% of companies surveyed reporting they grew their use of cloud in the past year.
5. Cybersecurity concerns are mounting: Cybersecurity skills have the fourth biggest impact on hiring decisions, reported by 40% of employers, trailing only cloud, Linux and DevOps. Amongst professionals, 77% state they would benefit from additional cybersecurity training, demonstrating that although the importance of security is being recognized more, there is work to be done to truly secure technology deployments.
6. Companies are willing to spend more to avoid delaying projects: The most common way to close skills gaps currently according to hiring managers is training (43%), followed by 41% who say they hire consultants to fill these gaps, an expensive alternative and an increase from the 37% reporting this last year. This aligns with the only 16% who are willing to delay projects, demonstrating digital transformation activities are being prioritized even if they require costly consultants.

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Employer job postings for technology occupations surpassed 443,000 in April and total 1.6 million year-to-date, an increase of 40% over the same period last year, CompTIA Tech Jobs Report reveals.

CompTIA’s latest tech employment analysis from the U.S. Bureau of Labor Statistics also shows that technology companies added 20,700 workers in April and 75,200 through the first four months of 2022.

“Despite the growing chatter around economic headwinds, it was another solid month of tech employment gains and hiring activity momentum,” said Tim Herbert, chief research officer at CompTIA, in a statement.

Hiring for the month occurred in all five major tech industry categories: tech manufacturing, telecommunications, data and cloud infrastructure services and IT services and software. Year-to-date, tech industry employment is tracking 28% ahead of the same period of the previous year.

Positions for software developers and engineers accounted for nearly 30% of all employer tech job postings in April. Demand was also strong for IT project managers, IT support specialists, systems engineers and architects and network engineers and architects. Three in 10 postings were for positions in emerging technologies or jobs requiring emerging tech skills.

Tech job postings surpassed 15,000 in five metro areas across the country – New York City, Washington, Dallas, Los Angeles and Chicago. However, hiring activity extended beyond the largest markets. Oklahoma City ranked seventh nationally in the largest month-over-month increase in tech jobs postings.

The one soft spot in the report was the decline of 215,000 tech positions as measured at the occupation level – that is, positions across all sectors of the U.S. economy. With the typically higher levels of volatility with monthly occupation level data, it is too soon to interpret this as a monthly blip or something more, according to CompTIA

The complete CompTIA Tech Jobs Report is available at comptia.org/content/tech-jobs-report.

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