Dive Brief:
- The first snapshot of the tech labor market since a government shutdown hindered access to official labor statistics showed significant hiring constraints in November, according to a CompTIA review of U.S. Bureau of Labor Statistics published Tuesday.
- Tech jobs across the economy declined by 134,000 workers during November, according to the CompTIA analysis, as unemployment jumped one percentage point from the last full month of reporting to reach 4%. National unemployment rose to 4.6%, the highest level in four years.
- Job postings for technology positions, a signal of future hiring intent, reached 436,000, which CompTIA said was "down from the prior month and well off the average monthly volume rate for the year."
Dive Insight:
The tech hiring picture for 2025 has been mixed as employers navigate shifts in skill demands and large tech players laid off staff in droves.
The delay and suspension of official government data releases in recent months — which the U.S. Bureau of Labor Statistics attributed to the government shutdown — aggravated the lack of clarity. But the recent set of numbers suggests a rollback of previous growth.
In September, CompTIA's report showed 247,000 new tech jobs were added to the economy, and tech unemployment remained close to its historic average.
“On the heels of the government shutdown, the latest tech employment data is in line with expectations,” Tim Herbert, chief research officer at CompTIA, said in a Tuesday statement. “Employers face a tricky balancing act in needing to expand the skill and capability of their tech workforces while navigating uncertainty on the economic, geopolitical, AI and other fronts.”
The slide in tech employment aligns with an overall weak job market during the month, according to Indeed analysis. Although job growth rebounded, the increases were concentrated in specific industries such as healthcare and certain trades.
"Today’s incomplete and unconventional jobs report may always need an asterisk attached to it, but it still paints a sobering picture of a job market that may officially be turning frigid after a prolonged cooling period," said Laura Ullrich, director of economic research for the Indeed Hiring Lab, in an email to CIO Dive.
Tech sector watchers are closely tracking the effects of AI adoption on hiring trends, as large vendors such as Amazon reshape their organizations to focus on the development and sale of these tools.
