SMB Hiring Apparent in Tech Services Sector Employment Gains, CompTIA Analysis Reveals

Employer demand for AI talent boosts share of job postings to 12%

The latest employment data suggests hiring among small and medium-size businesses (SMBs) in the tech services and software development sector has continued, according to analysis by CompTIA, the nonprofit association for the information technology (IT) industry and workforce.

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In the aggregate tech sector employment was essentially unchanged from the previous month, CompTIA’s analysis of U.S. Bureau of Labor Statistics (BLS) #JobsReport data reveals. The base of tech sector employment stands at nearly 5.6 million workers spanning technology infrastructure, telecommunications, software and services.

Companies in the tech services and software development sector added an estimated 2,900 new hires for the month. The segment of the industry has recorded employment growth in nine of 11 months this year. Among all companies in the tech services and software development sector, 99.9% are classified as SMBs. They account for 84% of employment in the tech services and software sector. Cloud infrastructure and related positions have had seven months of positive results.

Tech occupations throughout the economy declined by 210,000 last month. The unemployment rate for tech occupations fell to 1.7%, less than half the national unemployment rate (3.5%).

“With the gains in employer hiring intent for AI talent, the job posting data is finally catching up to the hype,” said Tim Herbert, chief research officer, CompTIA. “As an enabling technology, companies hiring for AI skills inevitably need to boost adjacencies in areas such as data infrastructure, cybersecurity and business process automation.”

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Employer hiring activity as measured by job postings for tech positions totaled 155,621 for the month. Jobs associated with artificial intelligence (AI) made up 12% of the total, more than 18,000 postings. It’s the first time AI positions have surpassed the 10% threshold. Positions in emerging technologies or jobs that require emerging tech skills accounted for 26% of tech job postings last month.

California (15,193), Texas (14,403) and Virginia (10,103) had the highest volumes of tech job postings among the states. Washington, New York, Dallas and Chicago led metropolitan markets. Professional, scientific and technical services, administrative and support, manufacturing, finance and insurance and information were the most active industry sectors.

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