Dive Brief:
- Employers added nearly 50,000 IT workers across all industries in June amid ongoing AI deployment efforts, according to a CompTIA analysis of U.S. Bureau of Labor Statistics published Thursday.
- Unemployment slid last month as business demand for tech categories remained strong, the firm said. IT professional unemployment reached 2.9%, dipping below 3% for the first time this year.
- Open job postings for tech roles surpassed 600,000 for the second consecutive month, CompTIA said, as companies added 280,000 new job postings during the month.
Dive Insight:
Employers continue to pursue the talent that can deliver on their tech goals, with special attention to IT and software services.
Last month’s employment data shows businesses are continuing to ramp up technology investments, according to Seth Robinson, VP for industry research at CompTIA.
“Even as some tech companies announce layoffs, employers in other industries are accelerating digital transformation initiatives and moving from AI experimentation to implementation,” Robinson said in the announcement.
Despite overall demand for talent across the economy, the technology sector trimmed 15,503 jobs last month, nearly reaching 140,000 so far this year, according to a Challenger, Gray & Christmas analysis. The technology industry constitutes nearly one-third of all job cuts announced this year, the firm found.
“Tech remains the epicenter of this year’s cuts,” said Andy Challenger, the firm’s chief revenue officer, in the analysis. “AI is the dominant force as companies are restructuring around it, automating roles, and reallocating budgets toward new capabilities. The sector is being reshaped in real time.”
The software developer market in particular has shifted due to broad adoption of automated development tools. AI-augmented software development jobs increased by nearly 600% in the last five years, a Randstad Digital report found. Traditional developer roles grew just 28% in the same timeframe.
