IT Jobs Tick Down in February Reflecting Ongoing Dearth of Talent
Alexandria, VA, March 9, 2022 – While the overall employment picture was positive with 678,000 non-farm jobs added in February, IT employment ticked down modestly for the first time since August 2020. The IT sector-related jobs showed an incremental decline of 0.04%, down 2,400 jobs, to 5,406,700 jobs in February, according to TechServe Alliance, the national trade association of the IT & Engineering Staffing and Solutions Industry. On a year-over-year basis, IT employment was up 1.79% since February 2021, adding 95,200 IT
Engineering employment grew by 0.20% sequentially to 2,670,500. On a year-over-year basis, engineering employment increased by 3.42% since February 2021, adding 88,400 engineering workers.
“Since emerging from its low of ebb brought on by the pandemic, IT employment has been essentially flat for last seven months. IT employment ticked down modestly for the first time in more than 18 months, reflecting an extraordinarily tight supply of technical talent,” said Mark Roberts, CEO of TechServe Alliance. “It’s up to companies to formulate their talent acquisition strategies that meet the expectations of the talent in terms of compensation and return-to-work policies. Additionally, to be successful in this environment, companies must be creative and diversify their approach to sourcing candidates.”
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.
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 through January 2021 data. 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. IT & Engineering staffing and solutions firms 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 its members, 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.
