RESEARCH TRIANGLE PARK – Technology employment continues to hold steady to begin the new year, according to analysis of the latest labor market day by CompTIA, the nonprofit association for the information technology industry and workforce. But that trend may be cooling – or ending.

Technology industry companies added 17,600 workers in December, with job gains recorded in four of five sector categories, CompTIA’s analysis of today’s U.S. Bureau of Labor Statistics #JobsReport reveals. It was the 25th straight month of net employment growth in the tech industry.

But will the streak continue? Angst is growing among tech workers about layoffs, with LinkedIn interest in jobs at risk or lost spiking

Last week, for example, Amazon, Salesforce and Vimeo all announced significant layoffs. As 2022 drew to a close with a substantial surge in job cuts Layoffs.fyi said more than 1,000 tech companies had cut more than 154,000 jobs.

And stories about how to prepare for a possible job change proliferating, including this one which has drawn significant readership at TechWire.

However, N.C. State University economist Dr. Mike Walden says he doesn’t expect a big impact on jobs even if an expected recession hits later this year.

” The fact that the Fed’s substantial rate hikes to date – of over 4 percentage points – have not caused job losses and higher unemployment, can be read as evidence that a “soft landing” is within reach,” Walden told WRAL TechWire. “But even if an official recession sometime in 2023 is called, it could be the first recession in memory with no job losses.”

Layoff fallout spills to LinkedIn: News feeds are filling up with job hunts

In North Carolina, the number of high-tech job openings is declining, according to the N.C. Technology Association. But as WRAL TechWire reported last week 49 of the 50 big companies – mostly in tech – in the Triangle still have job openings.

Employers throughout the economy added an estimated 130,000 tech workers in December, helping to drive down the tech occupations unemployment rate to 1.8%, compared to the overall national rate of 3.5%.

Workers wanted: 49 of 50 top firms in Triangle are hiring – here they are

Job postings for future tech hiring declined for the second consecutive month, but still totaled more than 246,000 in December. Positions for software developers and engineers accounted for nearly 30% of last month’s jobs postings. IT support specialists, IT project managers, systems engineers and network engineers were also in demand.

“Another wave of positive tech employment data speaks to the many moving parts of a complex labor market,” said Tim Herbert, chief research officer at CompTIA. “Despite the layoffs there continues to be more employers hiring tech talent than shedding it.”

High-tech job openings across NC plunge nearly 20% in November

Washington, New York, Chicago, Los Angeles and Dallas led the list of metro markets with the highest volumes of tech jobs postings, which Richmond (VA), Tallahassee (FL), Las Vegas (NV) and Lansing (MI) recorded the largest month-over-month increases in employer job postings. Among industry sectors, professional, scientific and technical services (38,654), finance and insurance (33,538) and manufacturing (26,763) reported the most activity.

CompTIA’s analysis also shows that 30% of all tech jobs postings are for positions in emerging technologies, such as artificial intelligence, or in roles requiring emerging tech skills.

Within the tech sector three occupation categories paced December hiring – IT services and custom software development (+7,200), other information services, including search engines (+6,600) and data processing, hosting and related services (+5,600).

Recent layoff announcements by technology companies may not show up immediately in government reports, such as Friday’s [Jan. 6] BLS “Employment Situation” report.

The “CompTIA Tech Jobs Report” is available at https://www.comptia.org/content/tech-jobs-report.

Note: CompTIA is a content partner of WRAL TechWire.