New Tech Hiring Data Signals Technology's Broad Impact on the Economy and Employment

Staff Report

Wednesday, July 6th, 2022

Employer hiring activity for technology positions as measured by job postings remain at record levels and technology companies added workers for the 18th straight month, according to analysis by CompTIA, the nonprofit association for the information technology (IT) industry and workforce.

CompTIA's analysis of today's "#JobsReport" from the U.S. Bureau of Labor Statistics (BLS) shows that at the technology industry level companies added 22,800 net new workers in May.[1] Through the first five months of 2022 employment has increased by 106,700 positions and is tracking 69% ahead of the same period versus 2021.

Employer hiring activity as measured by job postings for tech positions totaled 623,627 for the month and nearly 2.2 million year-to-date. This represents a 52% increase versus the same period of the previous year.

"The data speaks to the broad-based nature of the tech workforce," said Tim Herbert, chief research officer at CompTIA. "It also speaks to the many factors affecting employment and situations where sectors or companies easing up on hiring may be offset by sectors or companies increasing hiring."

Tech occupations throughout the economy increased by a modest 2,000 positions in May. The unemployment rate for tech occupations edged up to 2.1%, compared to the overall national unemployment rate of 3.6%.

Positions for software developers and engineers (204,084) accounted for nearly a third of all employer tech job postings in May, an increase of more than 77,000 from April. Increases in hiring activity for IT project managers, IT support specialists, systems engineers and architects and network engineers and architects were also reported. One-third of all postings were for positions in emerging technologies or jobs requiring emerging tech skills.