Despite a tumultuous year, the amount of people working in the technology sector has grown, according to new research from CompTIA.
The company’s annual State of the Tech Workforce revealed that net tech employment grew by 3.2% in the United States in 2022, with the number of people employed in technology increasing by an estimated net new 286,400 workers.
More than 9.1 million people work in tech jobs, spanning both technical and non-technical workers employed by tech companies and tech professionals who work in industries across the economy, the company said.
Tech Job Growth
All 50 states and the District of Columbia saw increases in tech employment in 2022. Texas led the nation in net tech employment growth, adding an estimated 45,331 jobs. The other top states included:
- California (+38,186)
- Florida (+22,029)
- New York (+18,487)
- Washington (+17,962)
Perhaps more interesting, the number of tech-related employment opportunities also grew in states not traditionally thought of as tech hubs. Those included:
- South Carolina (+3,853)
- Indiana (+3,525)
- Alabama (+2,430)
- Kansas (+1,786)
- Idaho (+1,503)
Unsurprisingly, the Silicon Valley corridor of San Francisco to San Jose remains an important jobs growth engine. Still, the study showed that, over the past five years, 86% of tech employment growth occurred in other metro areas across the country.
Tim Herbert, chief research officer for CompTIA, commented:
“In a year of even more uncertainty than usual, the tech labor market routinely defied expectations. The data continues to confirm the degree to which technology underpins so many facets of business activity across the economy and the breadth of employers reliant on technical and digital skills.”
The pandemic’s impact on tech jobs did not go unnoted, with 34% of employer job postings for tech positions specifying work-from-home or hybrid work options – slightly more than 1.4 million jobs. That is a 146% increase over the pre-pandemic rate, the researchers said.
The Future State of Tech Employment
Looking ahead, CompTIA forecasts a 3% increase – more than 272,000 new jobs – in tech employment for 2023. The specific occupations poised for growth, according to the researchers, are data scientists and analysts (5.5%), cybersecurity analysts and engineers (5.2%), web designers and UI/UX professionals (4.7%), software developers and engineers (4.7%), and software quality assurance and testers (4.1%).
Just over 30% of all tech jobs postings were for occupations related to emerging technologies or for positions that required emerging tech skills. New York City, Washington, D.C., San Francisco, Dallas and Los Angeles were the top five cities for emerging tech job postings.
