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US tech unemployment is lowest for 20 years

by on22 July 2019


Staff shortages coming

The US Bureau of Labour Statistics claims that tech unemployment hasn't been this low since the turn of the century.

The figures have been pulled apart by  CompTIA, which said that since  May, tech's unemployment rate sat at 1.3 percent.

The analyst firm’s Tim Herbert said that there was a real prospect of tech worker shortages affecting industry growth.

"Firms seeking to expand into new areas such as the Internet of Things, robotic process automation or artificial intelligence may be inhibited by a lack of workers with these advanced skills, not to mention shortages in the complementary areas of technology infrastructure and cybersecurity", Herbert wrote.

Tech's unemployment rate previously hit 1.4 percent in April 2007 and March 2018.

Not all segments within tech are adding jobs at the same rate; although custom software development and computer systems design gained 8,400 new positions in May, for example, both information services and telecommunications saw modest losses.

Meanwhile, new data from PayScale suggests that wages within the tech industry grew 2.3 percent year-over-year in the second quarter of 2019. That's an indicator that the low unemployment rate is forcing employers to pay more to secure the talent they need.

 

Last modified on 22 July 2019
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