Monday Morning Impact – June 24

Employers’ search for technology workers, from tech support staff to artificial intelligence (AI) specialists, accelerated in May, according to an analysis by CompTIA, an industry association based in suburban Chicago.

Technology companies added staff in May, though at a slower pace than recent months, as revealed by CompTIA’s analysis of U.S. Bureau of Labor Statistics (BLS) data. The tech sector added 2,181 jobs last month, increasing employment to nearly 5.6 million workers.

New job postings for tech occupations reached 209,000 in May, an increase of nearly 27,000 from April and the highest total since June 2023, according to CompTIA. In total there were almost 427,000 active tech job postings last month. The steady ascent of job postings for AI occupations or positions requiring AI skills continued, totaling more than 26,000 and accounting for 12% of all tech openings.

The unemployment rate for tech occupations dropped to 2.5%, well below the national rate of 4%. Technology occupations throughout the economy declined by 42,000, less than 1% of the total base of tech occupation employment of almost 6.4 million.

Several tech occupation categories saw double-digit increases in job postings in May, including data scientists (+24%), database administrators (18%), software developers (+17%), web developers (15%), network architects (12%) and tech support specialists (+10%).

Three states saw tech job postings grow by more than 2,000 for the month – Texas (+2,978), California (+2,804) and Illinois (+2,062). Increases of more than 1,000 job postings occurred in four other states (Georgia, New York, Michigan and Florida).

CompTIA’s new report also shows that 45% of all active tech job postings in May did not specify that candidates have a four-year degree, signaling that employers are widening their search for tech talent. Some essential tech positions had even higher percentages, such as network support specialists (86%), IT support specialists (72%), network and systems administrators (54%) and programmers (50%).

Channel Impact^®
The jump in tech job postings is an encouraging indicator that more employers are coming off the sidelines, potentially driven by pent-up demand for the tech talent needed to support digital growth initiatives.

Fortinet, the Sunnyvale, California-based cybersecurity company, announced that it has entered into a definitive agreement to acquire Lacework, which produces an AI-powered cloud security platform that integrates critical CNAPP services. Their technology leverages patented AI and machine learning technology, an agent and agentless architecture for data collection, a homegrown data lake, and a code security offering. Lacework reports a current base of nearly 1,000 customers.

Fortinet delivers its solutions as part of the Fortinet Security Fabric, an integrated cybersecurity platform that spans Secure Networking, AI-driven Security Operations, and Unified SASE, which includes access and cloud security. The company intends to integrate Lacework’s CNAPP solution into its existing portfolio, forming a full stack AI-driven cloud security platform.

“By integrating Lacework’s leading AI-powered cloud security platform, we’re enhancing our Security Fabric platform to offer customers an even more comprehensive solution,” said Fortinet founder and CEO Ken Xie. “This acquisition reinforces our commitment to delivering consistent security across on-premises and cloud environments.”

“Our vision to connect across security silos enables teams to work together to produce better security outcomes more quickly,” added Jay Parikh, CEO at Lacework. “Integrated into Fortinet’s platform, we can more deeply embrace these customers to truly solve for their end-to-end security challenges.

Financial terms of the transaction were not disclosed. The transaction, which is expected to close in the second half of 2024, is subject to required regulatory approvals and other customary closing conditions.

Channel Impact^®
The acquisition is intended to help partners and customers identify, prioritize, and remediate risks and threats in complex cloud-native infrastructure from code to cloud.