Dive Brief:
- Tech hiring delivered mixed results in July, according to a CompTIA analysis of U.S. Bureau of Labor Statistics data published Friday.
- Businesses across all sectors cut around 26,000 tech jobs last month, the analysis showed. By contrast, hiring in tech sector companies increased by nearly 4,000 jobs since July.
- Unemployment was a bright spot in the recent report, falling for the third consecutive month to 2.8% and following the national trend, which also fell to 4.1%.
Dive Insight:
The tepid tech hiring trends in July are playing out against a backdrop of unexpected malaise in national labor indicators.
Tech-adjacent sectors such as information added 11,000 jobs while professional and business services added 18,000 roles, a more upbeat sign amid the slower hiring market, said Indeed Hiring Lab Economist Sneha Puri.
“That resilience tracks with what we’re seeing in Indeed’s data too,” Puri said. “Software development postings are up nearly 15% since early 2025, driven mainly by senior, AI-focused hiring, while overall job postings fell by 7% over the same period.”
Despite some signs of slower tech hiring during the past month, enterprises are pressing on with their work to adopt AI, according to Seth Robinson, VP of research at CompTIA.
“There is still strong demand for foundational roles across support, infrastructure and data as companies begin deeper integration of AI into technology strategies,” Robinson said in CompTIA’s analysis.
The push-pull of supply and demand in the tech labor market is favoring AI-savvy workers as automation finds its way deeper into core operations. More than half of employers said they’re seeking workers who have enough AI fluency to use the technology to assist in completing their tasks, Indeed data showed. The availability of those workers is lean, according to the job search platform.
Regardless, AI talent demand shows no signs of slowing down, a Dice analysis of 7 million job postings found. In the first quarter of the year, positions with AI in the title increased 173% year over year.
