Tech Industry Bursting With Jobs, 2.8 Million Added in 2017: Study
A new report from CompTIA shows the strength of the national technology sector, with plenty of opportunities and a pretty wide earnings gap between tech and "traditional" jobs. Overall, the report says, there are 11.5 million tech pros in the United States, which accounts for 7.2 percent of the overall workforce. The economic impact of tech is $1.589 trillion. In a possibly surprising stat, CompTIA suggests only 46 percent of tech industry jobs are in tech occupations (Google, for instance, is far more than its engineers). If such a figure is accurate, there are over four million tech jobs at firms that aren’t traditionally tech companies. CompTIA says there are just over half a million “tech business establishments” in the U.S. Software and web development dominate CompTIA's data; there are nearly 1.4 million tech pros involved in that sub-field in the U.S., followed by “network architects, admins, and support” staff, with 742,600 employed nationwide. Systems and cybersecurity analyst roles are filled by just under 700,000 souls, while support specialists make up 620,000 jobs. Database administrators round out the top five with 118,060 positions filled. Based on the 50 roles CompTIA tracks for its Cyberstates study, there were 2.8 million new job postings in 2017, and 209,800 were in emerging tech fields such as arificial intelligence (A.I.), machine learning, robotics, and digital business transformation. California naturally ranks first in the nation, earning top honors for employment (1,749,400 in tech) and jobs added in 2017. Texas ranks second in both categories (with 963,400 tech workers), while New York takes third (639,500). Florida was fourth (539,100), and Illinois fifth (437,200). CompTIA also notes that tech pros make a lot more than the average worker, earning roughly double what most U.S. workers do annually ($112,900 versus $54,500, respectively). Our own data back these findings up. When you examine just the numbers, the tech industry is in great shape. Earnings are well above average, jobs are plentiful, and the impact is huge (and measurable). With emerging technologies such as augmented reality and machine learning set to frame a new era of tech innovation, we can expect the industry to keep growing at a rapid pace.