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The tech unemployment rate tumbled from 3.4 percent to 2.5 percent in September, the biggest such dip in four years, according to a new analysis of U.S. Bureau of Labor Statistics (BLS) data by CompTIA.
“It was never really a question of if, but when employers were going to resume hiring,” Tim Herbert, chief research officer for CompTIA, wrote in a statement accompanying the data. “A broad mix of companies viewed recent economic developments as the greenlight to move forward in addressing their tech talent needs.”
The broader economy gained 118,000 new tech positions, while employment within the tech industry rose by 8,583 net positions. “Analysis of U.S. Bureau of Labor Statistics (BLS) #JobsReport data reveals new hiring was primarily driven by the subsectors of cloud infrastructure, data processing and hosting (+6,000) and tech services and custom software development sector (+2,900),” continued CompTIA’s report. “An estimated 6.4 million professionals are employed in core tech occupations by companies of all types across the economy.”
Many employers are still emphasizing a need for skills irrespective of candidates’ formal degrees: some 46 percent of September’s job postings didn’t specify the need for a four-year degree. CompTIA also saw vigorous hiring in a number of industries and prominent companies, including automotive (General Motors, Ford), financial services (JPMorgan Chase, Wells Fargo), healthcare (Cardinal Health, CVS Health, Humana, Intermountain Health), hospitality (Marriott International), and technology (Apple, Google, Meta, Oracle, TEKsystems).
The robust hiring numbers also suggests that the rise of AI isn’t curbing employers’ appetite for hiring, despite tech professionals’ widespread fears that AI might eventually cost them their jobs. Indeed, many employers view the technology as a way to enhance teams and speed up tasks such as coding, not as a way to radically winnow down the current size of teams.
For those currently hunting for a job, specializing in “hot” skillsets such as AI can make you stand out in a crowded and often uncertain market.Â