Dive Brief:
- Employers across industries added 65,000 technology positions in July as demand for IT talent prevailed, according to a CompTIA review of U.S. Bureau of Labor Statistics data.
- Tech sector companies added more than 5,000 employees to their ranks last month, marking a second month of increases after cutting more than 4,000 roles in May.
- In another positive sign for the month, tech unemployment rates contracted month over month, inching down to 1.8% in July from 2.3% in June. The rate remained far below the national unemployment average of 3.5%.
Dive Insight:
The midyear snapshot of tech talent aligns with long-standing trends: technologists looking for work are quickly snapped up by talent-hungry employers.
That includes the workers laid off by large technology employers in late 2022 and the first half of this year, most of whom quickly found new positions elsewhere.
“Given the pace of tech hiring, it remains a fairly tight market for tech talent,” said Tim Herbert, chief research officer at CompTIA, in a press release. “It continues to be an environment where employers must supplement recruiting efforts with proactive talent development strategies.”
Finding the IT workers they need to meet hiring goals or complete projects is a struggle for more than two-thirds of executives, according to IT Executives Council data.
Roiled by the lack of available talent, most employers have turned to upskilling to meet their needs.
However, not all signs in the July report signal a bustling job market, as postings for new positions once again contracted. Employers added 204,000 job postings in July, down from 236,000 in June.
