Rate Of IT Jobs Growth Sluggish; Pace Of Engineering Employment Expansion Slows In July

ALEXANDRIA, Va., Aug. 14, 2017 /PRNewswire-USNewswire/ -- The number of IT jobs only grew 0.1% sequentially last month to 5,305,800, according to TechServe Alliance, the national trade association of the IT & Engineering Staffing and Solutions industry. On a year-over-year basis, IT employment grew by 2.9% since July 2016 adding 147,100 IT workers.

Engineering employment also increased by 0.1 percent sequentially to 2,568,200.  On a year-over-year basis, engineering jobs increased by 1.2% since July 2016 or 30,600 engineering workers.

"For the past three months, the rate of IT job growth has been sluggish. While it still represents an increase in IT employment, the rate of growth has generally been on a downward trajectory for the past year. Similarly, the rate of engineering job growth decelerated after posting stronger June numbers," stated Mark Roberts, CEO of TechServe Alliance. "Given the extremely low unemployment rates in many high-demand IT and engineering skill sets, the shortage of supply is clearly impeding the growth rate of the U.S. technical workforce. More restrictive immigration policies being proposed by some policymakers would only further exacerbate this trend," added Roberts.

IT and engineering jobs are found in virtually every sector and industry in varying degrees. 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 were rebenchmarked this month with revisions going back several years. The next major revision will be published in February 2018. Additionally, from time-to-time TechServe Alliance reviews and adjusts the algorithm utilized to calculate the indices. 

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.

SOURCE TechServe Alliance