As the tech industry continues to outpace others across Chicago, the U.S. sector remains in growth mode, according to the latest data from IT trade association CompTIA.
CompTIA’s analysis of the U.S. of Bureau of Labor Statistics found national postings for tech jobs surpassed 484,000 in July and 3.1 million year-to-date. That’s an increase of 40% over the same period last year.
In fact, the industry as a whole gained 12,700 workers for the month, and with an unemployment rate of 1.7% in July, the tech industry continues to grow as others struggle in the face of Covid.
Illinois, the No. 5 state in terms of tech postings in July at nearly 21,000, experienced an increase of 221 postings from the previous month, while Chicago, the No. 5 metro area in terms of tech jobs lost more than 470 over the course of the month.
Steven Ostrowski, CompTIA’s senior director of corporate communications, however, didn’t see it as a significant decrease given the city’s overall size.
"It's a fairly small number when you look at [the fact that] there were still almost 70,500 jobs," he said.
One trend that was seen in this month’s report was that companies showed more flexibility in who they hire as there continues to be a wide gap between the number of jobs out there and the people available to fill them.
“More tech companies are starting to look for people other than the traditional candidate or the unicorn candidate, the person that checks every box on their LinkedIn or has a resume that meets all the criteria, because those people are so hard to find,” Ostrowksi said. “What companies are doing is easing their requirements, perhaps not requiring a four-year degree and looking at other job experience.”
A further look at the Chicago numbers shows that software developers and engineers continue to be the most sought-after position for tech firms with the number of job postings far exceeding any other tech role. IT project manager and computer support specialist are also in high demand at this time.
Ostrowski added that he’s seen a lot of poaching from within the industry as the number of layoffs reported across the tech world have created a funnel for some companies to hire more experienced and qualified candidates.
“Oftentimes it’s a fairly senior position and they simply don’t have a pipeline to fill that gap,” he said.
Capital One, Deloitte, Edward Jones, DirectTV and Uline Shipping were shown to have the most tech job postings of any employer in Chicago.
The 484,000 technology positions posted nationally in the month of July was a slight decrease from the previous month but remains at a near-record level, according to CompTIA.
