The information technology sector added about 9,000 jobs during March, with additions in four out of five tech sectors — but telecommunications job numbers were down about 2,000 for the month, according to analysis by industry group CompTIA.
Telecom has been steadily shedding jobs through the first three months of the year, according to CompTIA, which relies on numbers from the U.S. Bureau of Labor Statistics. In February, it reported that telecom jobs were down 2,600 for the month and 10,500 for the first two months of 2018. The March numbers bring that to a decline of an estimated 12,500 telecom jobs since the start of the year, despite the overall growth in the IT job sector. CompTIA said there are an estimated 769,400 jobs in telecommunications as of the end of March.
Overall, the economy added 103,000 non-farm payroll jobs last month, CompTIA said, noting that this was the fewest in six months according to the Bureau of Labor Statistics.
The other tech sectors which CompTIA breaks out month-to-month include IT and software services, which added 5,000 jobs between February and March; computer, electronics and semiconductor manufacturing; data processing, hosting and related services; and other information services, including search portals.
In its recently released Cyberstates 2018 report, which looks at national and state employment trends in tech jobs, CompTIA estimated that there were about 11.5 million people working in tech during 2017, a number that was up 200,000 from the year before. The tech job market hit a low in 2010 during the Great Recession but has been steadily adding jobs since. Software was the category with the fastest job growth in 2017, at more than 5% year-over-year growth; IT services and custom software services was second at 3.6% growth between 2016 and 2017.
Telecom jobs are up 6% since 2010, CompTIA noted, and employment in telecom and internet services grew by 10,000 jobs from 2016 to 2017, a growth rate of 0.8% that is significantly weaker than the numbers put up by other tech sectors. What growth the sector did see in 2017 was “driven entirely by growth in the data processing, hosting, and search portal services categories, where employment increased by 28,000 jobs. Wired and wireless telecommunications services shed 18,100 jobs, a loss of 2.3 percent,” CompTIA reported.
Overal lindustry projections are that more tech workers will be needed.
“During the 2016-2026 time period, projections from the U.S. Bureau of Labor Statistics indicate the base of tech occupations will increase by 626,000 new jobs. When factoring in the need to replace retiring or career-change workers, the total potential tech workforce need will exceed 1.2 million through 2026,” CompTia reported.
