US Tech Sector Reports Modest Employment Gains, CompTIA Analysis Reveals

Tech companies added 5,900 workers in September

Downers Grove, IL /PRNewswire/ - Employment in the U.S. information technology (IT) sector experienced a modest bounce-back month in September, adding an estimated 5,900 jobs, according to an analysis released today by CompTIA, the leading technology industry association.

Employment growth was led by gains in the categories of IT services, custom software development and computer system design (+ 4,800); computer and electronic products manufacturing (+ 2,100); and data processing, hosting and related services (+ 1,600), CompTIA's analysis of the latest Bureau of Labor Statistics "Employment Situation" report reveals.

"Between the very low unemployment rate for IT occupations, the transitions underway to newer technologies and external economic or policy factors, it's not surprising to see mixed signals in the employment data," said Tim Herbert, senior vice president for research and market intelligence at CompTIA.

Through the first nine months of 2018 the IT industry has added an estimated 67,600 jobs. That figure would be closer to 90,000 if not for job losses in telecommunications. Last month telecommunications employment declined by an estimated 3,000 jobs.

Across the entire economy, employers shed an estimated 90,000 core technology positions in September. This follows two months in which companies hired some 155,000 tech workers, illustrating the continuing pattern of volatility in the monthly occupation data. So far this year there have been four months of positive growth and five months of negative results in the monthly occupation data for core IT positions.

The unemployment rate for IT occupations was reported as 2 percent in September, compared to 2.8 percent in September 2017. According to the Bureau of Labor Statistics, men and women share the same 2-percent unemployment rate for IT occupations.

The number of employer job postings in September fell by an estimated 2,700 from the previous month. Software positions were the most in demand, followed by IT support specialists and systems engineers.

Two other categories that continue show strength are cybersecurity positions and jobs related to emerging technologies.

This year U.S. employers have posted more than 103,000 job openings for cybersecurity engineers and analysts, a 30-percent increase over the same period in 2017.

"Cybersecurity skills are now a requirement for just about every IT job role, so employer demand for cybersecurity skills and experience is even higher than reported in the job posting figures," Herbert noted.

For emerging tech, there were more than 248,000 job postings between January and September, an increase of 63 percent compared to the same period in 2017. For specific technologies, postings for blockchain positions were up 423 percent (12,463 postings); artificial intelligence, up 149 percent (37,829 postings); and robotics, up 23 percent (51,112 postings).

The CompTIA IT Employment Tracker report is available at https://www.slideshare.net/comptia/comptia-it-employment-tracker-october-2018.

CompTIA publishes research on tech industry employment, skills and workforce trends throughout the year, including Cyberstates™ 2018, the definitive annual analysis of the nation's tech industry. To learn more, visit http://cyberstates.org/and https://www.comptia.org/insight-tools/business?tags=it%20workforce.

About CompTIA
The Computing Technology Industry Association (CompTIA) is a leading voice and advocate for the $1.5 trillion U.S. information technology ecosystem; and the 11.5 million technology and business professionals who design, implement, manage, market, and safeguard the technology that powers the U.S. economy. Through education, training, certifications, advocacy, philanthropy, and market research, CompTIA is the hub for advancing the tech industry and its workforce. Visit www.comptia.org to learn more.