Rate of IT and Engineering Job Growth Decelerates

Staff Report

Tuesday, October 17th, 2017

The number of IT jobs grew 0.1% sequentially last month to 5,316,200, 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 2.3% since September 2016 adding 121,100 IT workers.

Engineering employment increased by 0.1 percent sequentially to 2,572,700. On a year-over-year basis, growth in engineering employment increased by 1.9% since September 2016 or 32,900 engineering workers.

"After a modest uptick in August, the rate of both IT and engineering job growth decelerated in September. Despite the deceleration in the rate of growth, both IT and engineering outperformed the overall labor market which actually contracted for the first time in seven years in light of the hurricanes that hit Texas and Florida," stated Mark Roberts, CEO of TechServe Alliance. "Given the weather events had an adverse impact on two states that are economic powerhouses, I think the deceleration in the rate of growth is no cause for alarm. We fully expect employment to rebound in these areas in the coming months," added Roberts.