Tech Industry Employment Grows for Second Straight Month, CompTIA Analysis Reveals

CompTIA reports that technology companies added nearly 18,000 workers in January and employer job postings for open positions recorded a rebound.

Specifically, CompTIA's latest Tech Jobs Report shows that tech industry employment grew by 17,833 jobs, based on CompTIA’s analysis of U.S. Bureau of Labor Statistics (BLS) #JobsReport data. Tech companies added jobs in four of the five primary sub-sectors, paced by technology services and software development (+14,500), cloud infrastructure (+2,100) and tech manufacturing, notably semiconductors (+1,400). CompTIA points out that Labor market data from the U.S. Bureau of Labor Statistics and employer job posting data from Lightcast may be subject to backward revisions.

Technology occupations across the economy declined by an estimated 117,000 positions. The unemployment rate for tech occupations was unchanged at 2.3%. The national unemployment rate remains at 3.7%.

“This month’s data is a helpful reminder of the many moving parts in assessing tech workforce gains or losses,” said Tim Herbert, chief research officer at CompTIA. “The expansive tech workforce will simultaneously experience gains and losses reflecting employer short-term and longer-term staffing needs.”

Employers listed more than 392,000 active job postings for tech occupations, with nearly 178,000 postings added last month. Active job postings include open postings carried over from previous months and new postings added by employers.

January’s total of active postings is 33,727 more than the December 2023 figure, the largest month-over-month increase in 12 months. There is significant employer interest in filling positions in software development, IT project management, data analysis and science, IT support and systems analysis and engineering.

Job postings in artificial intelligence or requiring AI skills increased by about 2,000 from December to January, to 17,479. After several months of decline, the number of job postings offering hybrid, remote or work from home options exceeded 30,000, an increase of about 5,000 from December.

A number of metropolitan markets experienced notable jumps in tech job postings, including Dallas, Washington, New York, Boston, Atlanta and Chicago. Among industries, the highest demand for tech workers was in professional, scientific and technical services; administrative and support services; manufacturing; finance and insurance; and information sectors.

The Computing Technology Industry Association (CompTIA) is the leading information technology (IT) certification and training body. It is headquartered in the Chicago area. In December 2022, CompTIA acquired TestOut Corporation, an ed tech company once based in Pleasant Grove, Utah. Its Utah employees now work out of Kiln Lehi.

The latest “CompTIA Tech Jobs Report” is available at https://www.comptia.org/content/tech-jobs-report.