Dallas Helps Tech Employment Rebound, CompTIA Analysis Shows

A new analysis by CompTIA lists Dallas among the top cities leading the way in tech jobs as employment in the U.S. technology sector grew by an estimated 15,800 new positions in January.

Companies across the economy added roughly 370,000 core information technology workers last month. CompTIA (The Computing Technology Industry Association) is a trade association that advocates for the $5.2 trillion global information technology ecosystem.

According to the analysis of hiring data from the U.S. Bureau of Labor Statistics Employment Situation Report, the figures show a bounce back after several slower months at the end of 2019. And, numbers show that job postings in tech are picking up.

When broken down by metro areas, New York City, Washington, D.C., Los Angeles, Dallas, and San Francisco had the most job postings for IT talent in January, according to a statement. And, Washington, D.C., Dallas, Chicago, Charlotte, and Philadelphia were at the top of the list of metropolitan markets with the highest month-over-month growth.

“This month’s employment data brings tech hiring activity back in line with expectations,” Tim Hebert, executive vice president for research and market intelligence at CompTIA, said in a statement. “Employers continue to signal the need to expand their base of tech talent to meet short and longer-term business objectives.”

Employment numbers jump back in line

The analysis showed most of January’s hirings within the tech sector came in two categories: IT services, custom software development, and computer systems gained 8,800 jobs, while design and data processing, hosting, and related services gained 5,300 jobs. Gains were also noted in other information service sectors, such as search engines and portals and computer and electronics product manufacturing.

CompTIA noted that the addition of tech manufacturing positions happened in a month in which 12,000 manufacturing jobs were eliminated across all industries. For example, the telecommunications employment category lost 400 jobs last month.

The positive employment data in January was accompanied by growth in employer job postings for future hiring.

Tech job postings show increase month-over-month

The analysis showed that the number of postings for IT occupations increased by 52,090 in January 2020 from December 2019. Software and app developer positions led the way with 115,100 postings. Other in-demand tech occupations employers are looking to find workers in include IT user support specialists, systems engineers and architects, systems analysts, and IT project managers.

California, Texas, Virginia, New York, and Florida were the top five states in total IT job postings last month, while the states recording the strongest month-over-month growth in job postings were led by Texas, North Carolina, Virginia, Illinois, and Pennsylvania.

In December, CompTIA’s Tech Town Index 2019 showed that Dallas-Fort Worth continued to be a major draw for tech companies and tech workers as a place to succeed, grow, and have a good life, calling North Texas a “pot of gold” for future tech talent.

The Dallas-Fort Worth-Arlington metro area ranked No. 7 among the nation’s Top 20 Best Tech Cities for IT jobs in the 2019 index, one spot away from its No. 6 ranking in the 2018 index.