CompTIA Report: Tech job market sees promising recovery after year of layoffs
After more than a year of mass layoffs lead by some of the nation's largest employers, a new report suggests tech jobs are starting to rebound. New job postings for tech occupations reached 209,000 in May, an increase of nearly 27,000 from April, according to the Computing Technology Industry Association's "Tech Jobs Report". This is the highest total since June 2023 after a year of mass layoffs by some of the nation's largest employers. The report defines tech occupations as "strictly technical jobs" across a range of industries, including government, education and healthcare. While these positions declined by 42,000 across the economy this year, their unemployment rate dropped to 2.5%, well below the national rate of 4%. The report also highlighted the largest change in job postings in San Antonio, with 1,527 total tech job postings there, a 28% increase from April. The jump in tech job listings is seen as an encouraging indicator of increased demand for tech talent companies need to support digital growth initiatives.
Published : 3 weeks ago by Zoe Gottlieb in Business
New job postings for tech occupations reached 209,000 in May – an increase of nearly 27,000 from April.
After more than a year of mass layoffs led by some of the nation's largest employers, a new report suggests the tech job market is starting to rebound.
New job postings for tech occupations reached 209,000 in May – an increase of nearly 27,000 from April and the highest total since June 2023, according to the Computing Technology Industry Association's "Tech Jobs Report."
The information technology industry and workforce nonprofit defines tech occupations as "strictly technical jobs" across a swath of industries, including government, education and healthcare, according to Steven Ostrowksi, director of Corporate Communications at CompTIA. While those types of occupations declined by 42,000 across the economy this year, the unemployment rate for tech occupations dropped to 2.5%, well below the national rate of 4%, CompTIA's report found.
The report also highlighted the metropolitan markets with the biggest change in job postings. One of those markets was San Antonio – CompTIA reported 1,527 total tech job postings in the San Antonio metro area in May, a 28% increase from April.
CompTIA measured San Antonio's tech job postings by gathering data from technology organizations, Ostrowksi said. This includes anyone on the company's payroll from technical roles to administrative and marketing staff.
"We think – and this is based on both research we've done and anecdotal conversations with some of our members and other companies in the industry – that (companies) may be back to hiring mode – not in big numbers, but in strategic numbers," Ostrowski said.
Excluding staffing companies, the San Antonio area tech companies that listed the most job postings from January to May 2024 were USAA, Deloitte, and GovCIO. USAA, one of the largest employers in San Antonio, posted 241 unique jobs in the San Antonio metro area over the last five months.
USAA is looking for qualified software, data, infrastructure and cybersecurity engineers at all levels, according to USAA spokesperson Christian Bove. Last year, the San Antonio-based insurance giant partnered with greater:SATX to host a "Higher Education Roundtable," sharing with local education officials its vision of the curriculum needed to ensure local colleges and universities develop "job ready" graduates in areas such as enterprise deployment environments, alerting and monitoring and agile software development.
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CompTIA's San Antonio data shows that tech job postings have grown over the last three months after declining 11% from January to February. The data mirrors what CompTIA has seen with most markets across the country, Ostrowksi said.
Tech companies appear to be rebuilding their staff after conducting sweeping layoffs amid an uncertain economy and concerns over rising interest rates. In 2023, U.S.-based tech companies axed more than 191,000 positions, Crunchbase reports.
The jump in tech job postings is "an encouraging indicator," said Tim Herbert, chief research officer at CompTIA. He believes that the jump may reflect the "pent-up demand" for the tech talent companies will need to support their digital growth initiatives.
Companies are looking for tech talent to bolster their growth initiatives in four key areas: cybersecurity, software development, data analysis and artificial intelligence, according to Ostrowski. As tech companies continue to flesh out their AI strategies, Ostrowski expects that tech jobs will grow steadily.
"I don't know that we can expect 28% month-over-month growth going forward, but somewhere between 2% and 28% is probably a reasonable expectation," Ostrowski said.
Topics: Unemployment