Technology employment across the U.S. labor market grew in February while other key measurements of hiring activity fell back, CompTIA, the leading global provider of vendor-neutral information technology (IT) training and certification products, reported today.
Employment by tech sector companies declined by a net 11,514 positions in February, analysis of U.S. Bureau of Labor Statistics (BLS) #JobsReport data reveals.1 Tech services and tech manufacturing accounted for the majority of the retreat.
Tech employment across all industry sectors increased by an estimated 177,000 for the month.2 The tech unemployment rate increased to 3.3%, compared to the national rate of 4.1% for February.
Active employer job postings for core tech positions totaled nearly 490,000 in February, including 211,862 postings newly added during the month.3 New job postings fell back for the month, but are trending ahead of the moving three-month average. For February year-over-year, new job postings are up 15%.
“As expected, the report paints a mixed picture as labor market data catches up to market developments,” said Tim Herbert, chief research officer, CompTIA. “Recent employer tech hiring and future hiring intent indicators remain steady, so a degree of reassurance.”
Several states and metropolitan areas saw modest upticks in tech job postings last month. Virginia, Maryland and Tennessee recorded the largest increases at the state level. Among metro markets, Washington, Baltimore and Nashville saw the largest month-over-month increases. Industry sectors with the highest volumes of tech job postings in February included professional, scientific and technical services, manufacturing, information and finance and insurance.
Nearly one-half of all tech occupation job postings in February did not specify a four-year degree requirement for applicants. Openings for network support specialists (85%), tech support specialists (71%), computer programmers (57%), network systems administrators (54%) and web and UI/UX designers (53%) were at higher percentages.
Employer hiring for artificial intelligence (AI) skills and dedicated job roles continues to trend upward, according to CompTIA analysis of Lightcast job posting data. Active job listing referencing AI skill in some capacity more than doubled (+116%) in February compared to the same period last year, while hiring for dedicated AI job roles increased 79% for the month year-over-year.
Because of the lag in BLS tabulation of labor market data, the impact on employment of recent market developments, including federal workforce staffing changes, remains unclear. For context, CompTIA’s review BLS data indicates the Federal civilian government employed approximately 116,000 information technology workers in 2024. This figure excludes the military, the postal service and all government contractors, which in the aggregate push the total count of tech workers under the Federal government umbrella higher.
The “CompTIA Tech Jobs Report” is available here.
