The demand for U.S. tech talent remains strong. U.S. technology sector employment increased by more than 56,000 jobs during the first six months of 2019, enhanced by a solid month of hiring in June, according to an analysis by CompTIA, the leading technology industry association.
CompTIA’s examination of today’s U.S. Bureau of Labor Statistics “Employment Situation” report finds that the tech sector added an estimated 13,500 new jobs in June.
Through the first six months of 2019 tech sector employment has grown by an estimated 56,400 positions, compared to 49,700 during the first half of 2018.
“The mid-year tech employment report card shows many positives, reflecting the broad-based employer demand for tech talent,” said Tim Herbert, executive vice president for research and market intelligence at CompTIA. “Businesses continue to make progress in adopting a range of emerging technologies, with hiring following suit.”
Across the entire U.S. economy last month, tech occupations expanded by an estimated 135,000 positions. The unemployment rate for IT occupations stood at 1.5 percent, compared to the overall unemployment rate of 3.7 percent.
Within the tech sector, June job growth was paced by solid employment gains in the categories of technology services, custom software development and computer systems design (+ 7,200 positions) and computer and electronics products manufacturing (+ 6,500). The bulk of the new hiring in manufacturing occurred in two areas, electronic instruments (+ 3,900) and semiconductors and electronic components (+ 2,000).
Employment in other tech sector job categories was essentially flat, with modest gains reported in data processing, hosting and related services (+ 200) and other information services, including search portals (+ 100). Telecommunications employment declined by an estimated 500 jobs.
