In January, IT employment increased by 0.50% to 5,272,900 jobs, according to TechServe Alliance, the national trade association of the IT & Engineering Staffing and Solutions Industry. On a year-over-year basis, IT employment has declined by 1.32% since January 2020 shedding 70,300 IT workers. Engineering employment grew by 0.13% sequentially to 2,583,400. On a year-over-year basis, engineering employment decreased by 2.82% since January 2020, a loss of 74,900 engineering workers.
“After hitting its low ebb in July, IT employment has posted strong growth for the last six months – cumulatively gaining almost 3%,” observed Mark Roberts, CEO of TechServe Alliance. “While not fully back to pre-pandemic job levels, we have regained almost three quarters of the jobs lost as a result of the fallout from COVID-19. If IT jobs growth continues at the current pace, I anticipate we will have regained all of the IT jobs lost and will post growth on a year-over-year basis within the next few months. By contrast, the overall jobs market is unfortunately expected to take years to fully recover,” added Roberts.
The following table presents information about the total number of jobs in certain sectors that provide a significant amount of employment for IT and engineering professionals.
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Technical note: TechServe Alliance’s IT Employment Index and Engineering Employment Index are the first specific measurements of IT and engineering employment. These unique measurements of total IT and engineering employment are created monthly by studying the ongoing staffing patterns of a dozen IT and computer related occupations in 22 industries and industry sectors employing significant numbers of IT workers and nearly two dozen engineering occupations in 30 select industries and industry sectors employing significant numbers of engineering workers. Both the monthly IT Employment and Engineering Employment Indices are based on U.S. Bureau of Labor Statistics (BLS) data, which is subject to monthly revisions, and is revised accordingly. Both indices are also subject to periodic revisions and annual rebenchmarking that includes revisions to several years of employment data, which also may incorporate new occupational definitions. Both indices were re-benchmarked going back several years starting with January 2021 data reflected in this press release. In addition, both indices are subject to minor revisions to March and April data. The next major revision will be published in February 2022.
ABOUT TechServe Alliance
TechServe Alliance is the national trade association of the IT & Engineering staffing and solutions industry. Hundreds of IT & Engineering staffing and solutions firms and tens of thousands of affiliated professionals, count on TechServe Alliance to keep their leadership informed, engaged and connected. TechServe Alliance serves as the voice of the industry before the policymakers and the national and trade press. By providing access to the knowledge and best practices of an entire industry and tapping the “collective scale” of hundreds of companies, TechServe Alliance supports its members in the efficient delivery of best-in-class IT & Engineering staffing and solutions for clients and exceptional professional opportunities for every consultant.
