Downers Grove, IL (Aug. 6, 2021) — The unemployment rate for information technology (IT) occupations reached a two-year low in July as tech sector companies and employers across the economy increased their staffing, an analysis by CompTIA, the nonprofit association for the IT industry and workforce, reveals.
The unemployment rate for tech occupations dropped to 1.5% in July, according to the “Employment Situation” report released today by the U.S. Bureau of Labor Statistics (BLS) reveals. (#JobsReport). That’s the lowest level since August 2019 and is close to the historic low of 1.3%.
“Beyond the headline figures, the underlying data tells a growth story of diverse hiring across tech occupation categories, industry sectors, employer types and locations,“ said Tim Herbert, executive vice president for research and market intelligence at CompTIA. “It’s not one overriding factor, but a combination of factors contributing to tech employment growth.”
Tech sector employers increased employment by 10,700 positions last month. Three employment categories accounted for the gains. Companies added 5,200 workers in IT services and custom software development, 4,000 in other information services, including search engines, and 1,800 in data processing, hosting and related services.
Tech occupations in all sectors of the U.S. economy increase by 178,000 positions in July, while employer job postings for IT positions surpassed 318,500, an increase of more than 7,000 from the previous month.1
The latest job posting data illustrates that the demand for IT workers is strong across industries and geographies.
The top five industries for tech job postings in July were professional, scientific and technical services (53,614), finance and insurance (34,728), manufacturing (25,837), information (19,124) and retail trade (10,049).
Metropolitan areas with the strongest demand for tech workers included New York (21,858), Dallas (17,453), Washington, D.C. (16,391), Los Angeles (13,650), Chicago (12,287), San Francisco (11,835) and Atlanta (10,087).
The Dallas metro market recorded the largest month-over-month gain in tech jobs postings (+2,960), followed by New York (+2,058), Los Angeles (+1,906), Chicago (+1,680) and San Francisco (+1,613). Also in the top 10 for monthly growth is Springfield, Mass., which saw a 1,010 increase in tech jobs postings, another sign that opportunities to work in tech extend far beyond Silicon Valley.
The “CompTIA Tech Jobs Report” is available here.
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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.
1 Monthly occupation-level data reporting from the Bureau of Labor Statistics may be subject to higher levels of variance and volatility.
