CompTIA: Tech Unemployment Declines

The unemployment rate for technology occupations fell to 2.5% in September, the steepest month-over-month decrease in four years, according to analysis of U.S. Bureau of Labor Statistics by CompTIA, a suburban Chicago-based industry association.

Tech industry employment increased by 8,583 net new positions for the month, according to the report. New hiring was primarily driven by the subsectors of cloud infrastructure, data processing and hosting (+6,000) and tech services and custom software development sector (+2,900).

Across the entire economy, tech occupation employment increased by 118,000 new positions. The significant increase pushed the tech unemployment rate back down to 2.5%, well below the national unemployment rate. An estimated 6.4 million professionals are employed in core tech occupations by companies of all types across the economy.

“It was never really a question of if, but when, employers were going to resume hiring,” Tim Herbert, chief research officer, CompTIA. “A broad mix of companies viewed recent economic developments as the greenlight to move forward in addressing their tech talent needs.”

Employer job postings for future tech hiring climbed for the second consecutive month, to more than 516,000 active postings, including 225,000 new listings added in September. Job openings for tech support specialists and database administrators saw the largest percent change increases for the month at 14%.

The Washington (15,104), New York (13,291) and Dallas (10,676) metropolitan areas had the most job postings for the month, but markets such as Portland (OR), Lansing (MI), Trenton (NJ), Des Moines (IA) and Virginia Beach (VA) were also active.

Channel Impact^®
Partners are glad to see the rebound in the wake of numerous layoffs throughout the industry.