Downers Grove, Ill. – U.S. information technology sector employment declined by about 1% in April even as employers continued to seek tech talent in critical areas such as software development, networking and technical support, according to CompTIA, the leading trade association for the global IT industry.
The tech sector’s job losses for April totaled 111,900 positions, CompTIA’s analysis of employment data released today by the U.S. Bureau of Labor Statistics reveals. That represents less than 1% of the country’s 12.1 million tech-related workforce. And though the month’s job losses were the highest in the tech industry’s history, the total was well below the numbers of layoffs recorded in other industries, including restaurants, retail, healthcare, government, construction, hotels, education, and automotive.
“The data suggests tech job losses skewed more toward business services positions and not skilled tech personnel, which makes sense,” said Tim Herbert, executive vice president for research and market intelligence at CompTIA.
“To cut costs, companies will likely first forego sales, marketing, and similar positions while preserving the ‘brains’ of the organization in positions that are developing and deploying technology products,” Herbert continued. “This is especially true in companies providing critical remote-work technologies. If anything, these companies will be looking to expand their technical staff to meet increased customer demand.”
In fact, the number of job postings nationwide for core IT professionals totaled just over 270,000 in April.
Software and application developers were in the highest demand, with an estimated 89,786 job postings across the country. Computer systems engineers and architects (20,689), computer user support specialists (19,672), computer systems analysts (17,121), and web developers (15,064) rounded out the top five occupations employers were looking to hire.
By industry, professional, scientific and technical services, finance and insurance, manufacturing, and information had the largest numbers of IT job postings in April.
The “CompTIA IT Employment Tracker” is available at https://www.slideshare.net/comptia/comptia-it-employment-tracker-may-2020.
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About CompTIA
The Computing Technology Industry Association (CompTIA) is a leading voice and advocate for the $5.2 trillion global information technology ecosystem; and the estimated 75 million industry and tech professionals who design, implement, manage, and safeguard the technology that powers the world’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.
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Steve Ostrowski
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Roger Hughlett
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Access Now$2 trillion – Estimated direct economic impact of the U.S. tech industry, representing 8.8% of the national economy.
582,000 – Number of tech business establishments in the U.S.
9.1 million – U.S. net tech employment at the end of 2022.
286,400 – Estimated number of new technology jobs added in the U.S. in 2022.
4.1 million – Number of postings by U.S. employers for tech job openings during 2022.
