Big companies like Google, Meta and Qualcomm are undergoing yet another round of layoffs, but the technology sector as a whole actually added jobs in October.
Technology industry businesses gained more than 2,000 new employees last month, according to an analysis from CompTIA. New hiring in areas such as customer software development helped power that growth.
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Meanwhile, tech occupations across all sectors of the U.S. economy increased by an estimated 483,000 jobs, indicating a range of different businesses require talent with technical skills.
"Companies continue to focus on the technologies and skills that deliver meaningful business value," chief research officer Tim Herbert said.
Those employers want their workers in the office: Only about 20% of job postings offered work from home or remote work as an option, compared to more than 70% a year ago.
California, Texas, Virginia, Florida and New York had the highest volume of tech job postings in October. With more than 12,000 new job postings, Washington, D.C. led the U.S. by metro. It was followed by New York, Dallas, Los Angeles and Chicago.
Miami ranked No. 19 in the analysis, with 2,119 tech job ads. However, that's down 60% from the number of postings recorded in September, suggesting hiring is also slowing in South Florida.
Charlotte, North Carolina; Boston, San Diego, Cleveland and Phoenix were the top metros for month-over-month rises in tech job postings.
CompTIA, a nonprofit association for the information technology industry and workforce, based its analysis on data from the U.S. Bureau of Labor Statistics.
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The increase in tech job postings occurred even as U.S. job growth slowed more than expected in October. Non-farm payrolls grew by just 150,000, less than the 170,000 figure predicted by economists. While the national unemployment rate inched up to 3.9%, it was only 2.1% for tech occupations.
"It's fair to say tech employment gains for the month exceeded expectations given the recent labor market swings," Herbert said.
CompTIA reports software developers, IT support specialists, system analysts and data scientists are among the roles employers are hiring the most. Although demand for artificial intelligence jobs and skills are increasing, those positions still make up a small share of overall tech hiring activity.
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