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Job postings for information technology positions reach 365,000 in May

DOWNERS GROVE, Ill., June 4, 2021 – Employment in the U.S. technology sector grew in May and employers’ search for new tech talent reached a level not seen in nearly two years, an analysis by CompTIA, the nonprofit association for the information technology (IT) industry and workforce, reveals.

Technology companies added 10,500 jobs in May, a combination of technical and non-technical positions, data in the “Employment Situation” report released today by the U.S. Bureau of Labor Statistics (BLS) reveals. (#JobsReport). Tech sector employment has now increased for six consecutive months and has grown by more than 61,000 so far this year.

Meanwhile, employer job postings for open IT positions surpassed 365,000 in May, the highest monthly total since September 2019. Software and application developers, IT support specialists, systems engineers and architects, IT project managers and systems analysts are among the positions in highest demand.

At the occupation level across all industry sectors, the latest employment report shows a loss of 78,000 IT positions.[1] The unemployment rate for IT occupations was 2.4% in May, about half the national labor market rate of 5.5%.

“The strong employer hiring activity for technology positions coupled with a loss of jobs at the occupation level suggests a disconnect,” Tim Herbert, executive vice president for research and market intelligence at CompTIA. “However, it is not uncommon for factors such as hiring timing or an increase in workers seeking new employment opportunities to affect labor market data in the short-term.”

May’s impressive IT job positing numbers were dispersed across metro areas around the country. Large markets such as Washington, New York, Dallas, Los Angeles, Atlanta, San Francisco, Chicago, Boston, San Jose and Seattle accounted for about 36% of all IT job postings for the month.

Other metro areas that are sometimes overlooked in tech hiring discussions experienced high rates of month-over-month percent changes in IT job postings, including Virginia Beach-Norfolk (+ 60%), Des Moines (+ 33%), Kansas City (+ 27%), Louisville (+ 26%), Baltimore (+ 26%), Detroit (+ 25%) and Milwaukee (+ 21%).

The data also shows that demand for IT professionals is strong in a number of industry sectors, led by manufacturing (70,970), professional, scientific and technical  services (58,873), finance and insurance (31,054) and information (20,244).

Job openings for positions in emerging technologies or requiring emerging tech skills totaled nearly 104,000 last month, 28% of all positing for IT occupations.

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

About CompTIA
The Computing Technology Industry Association (CompTIA) is a leading voice and advocate for the $5 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  https://www.comptia.org/.

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[1] Monthly occupation-level data reporting from the Bureau of Labor Statistics may be subject to higher levels of variance and volatility.