IT employment continues to rise

Despite slow growth in employment throughout the U.S. in March, information technology employment remained strong in March.

The number of IT jobs was up 0.34 percent in March from the previous month, hitting a total of 4.4 million, according to Alexandria-based TechServe Alliance, a collaboration of IT, engineering staffing and solutions firms and suppliers.

On a 12-month basis, March IT employment was up nearly 5 percent.

In addition the March numbers, the TechServe Alliance revised its February growth figure upward from 0.38 to 0.71 percent.

On Friday, the Labor Department announced that U.S. employment grew by only 88,000 jobs in March, the smallest increase in nine months and far fewer than analysts had expected.
The unemployment rate dropped from 7.7 percent to 7.6 percent, but the labor force participation rate, the percentage of the working-age population involved in the labor market, declined to 63.3 percent, its lowest level since 1979.

“While I know the overall jobs report disappointed most observers, I am pleased to see that IT continues on a steady growth trajectory,” Mark Roberts, the CEO of TechServe Alliance, said in a statement. “Based on the data and anecdotal reports I hear from my member companies, demand for IT talent remains very strong with shortages in many skill sets. We continue to believe the sector will remain a bright spot in the economy throughout 2013.”