Which tech sectors saw the biggest bumps in employment last month? And which technology jobs enjoyed significant jumps in hiring and demand?
As companies across the country scrambled to secure enough processors for their products, the number of open jobs in PC, semiconductor, and components manufacturing ticked upward. Although only 12 percent of all chips are currently made in the United States (down from 37 percent thirty years ago), manufacturers now realize that domestic chip production is critical, and are investing in new silicon-manufacturing facilities to meet demand.
For example, Intel plans on building two new chip factories in Ohio that could eventually employ more than 3,000 people. Samsung, Intel, and TSMC have likewise pledged to invest substantial amounts of money in new chip-fabrication facilities in Texas and Arizona, although these facilities may take years to bring online. Technologists whose jobs touch on processor and/or PC manufacturing could find lots of good hiring opportunities ahead.
That hiring uptick is also good news for anyone who assumed that domestic high-tech manufacturing is on the wane. The real champion between December and January, though, was IT and custom software services, a huge tech sector that saw a notable spike in job openings, according to a new data analysis by CompTIA:
As with previous months, software and web developers enjoyed significant hiring demand, with hundreds of new roles opening between December and January. “Other” (i.e., data-related jobs) also saw an increase, although the number of open roles for IT support specialists and systems analysts dipped:
For technologists in general, opportunities abound. The tech unemployment rate hit 1.7 percent in January—down from 2 percent in December. “By all accounts this was an exceptionally strong start to the year for tech employment,” Tim Herbert, chief research officer at CompTIA, wrote in a statement accompanying the organization’s analysis. “The arms race in recruiting and retaining tech talent undoubtedly challenges employers in direct and indirect ways.”
That makes things tougher for companies trying to hire the talent they need—but it’s potentially very good news for technologists with the right mix of experience and skills.
