New data on tech hiring activity continues to offer ambiguous signals on the direction of the job market, according to analysis by CompTIA, the leading global provider of vendor-neutral information technology (IT) training and certifications.

Tech occupation employment, which encompasses companies in all industry sectors, increased by an estimated net new 54,000 workers in July, CompTIA analysis of U.S. Bureau of Labor Statistics (BLS) #JobsReport data reveals.¹ The unemployment rate for tech occupations was 2.9% in July, up slightly from June's 2.8% rate. An estimated 6.6 million people are employed in tech occupations.

Tech sector companies reduced staffing last month by a net 10,314 positions across all job role types.² Staffing reductions were concentrated in three primary sector categories – IT and custom software services, cloud infrastructure and telecommunications. Tech manufacturing was unchanged. Complicating the picture are the now routine backward revisions to employment data due to factors often outside the control of the BLS.

"In an environment where uncertainty is the norm, the latest tech employment data is a welcome mix of some reasonably positive measures, and then of course, some lagging measures," said Tim Herbert, chief research officer, CompTIA.

Active employer job listings for tech positions totaled 440,083 in July, with 44% of the total (193,496) newly added last month, according to CompTIA analysis of Lightcast job posting data.³ Compared to June, active tech job listings fell 3% and new job listings were off 8%.

Occupations in highest demand included software developers and engineers, systems engineers and architects, tech support specialists, cybersecurity engineers and architects and network engineers and architects. Listings for artificial intelligence (AI) job roles, such as AI architects, were roughly flat compared to the prior month. CompTIA's AI Hiring Index indicates relatively higher growth in hiring demand for the broad range of positions where employers require some type of AI skill to perform effectively in the job role.

On a geographic basis, California, Texas and Virginia has the most job postings for tech positions, while South Carolina, Pennsylvania and Connecticut recorded modest month-over-month increases in tech occupation openings. Washington, New York, Dallas, Atlanta and Chicago were the top five metro markets by volume of tech job postings.

The "CompTIA Tech Jobs Report" is available at https://www.comptia.org/en-us/resources/research/tech-jobs-report/.