In February, IT employment increased by 0.43% to 5,296,100 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 0.90% since February 2020 shedding 48,100 IT workers. Engineering employment grew by 0.12% sequentially to 2,582,700. On a year-over-year basis, engineering employment decreased by 3.01% since February 2020, a loss of 80,200 engineering workers.
“With seven consecutive months of strong growth, IT employment is less than one percent below pre-COVID levels” observed Mark Roberts, CEO of TechServe Alliance. “While the economic fallout from COVID-19 temporarily reduced demand in some skill sets, strong job growth over the last few months highlights our chronic long-term problem—a talent shortage in IT. Unfortunately, there is no easy or short-term fix to this perennial challenge,” 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.
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. 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.
