U.S. employers hired more than 260,000 IT workers in June, signaling the highest growth rate in the sector since hiring dropped due to the COVID-19 pandemic, according to The Wall Street Journal.
After reaching a six-month high in January at 370,000 new IT jobs, employers' hiring in the tech space has decreased. In May, there were fewer than 30,000 new IT jobs reported, according to the report.
The uptick in IT employment in June was led by software developers, IT support specialists and systems engineers, according to IT trade group CompTIA. However, the employment data for June was collected before a surge in new COVID-19 cases toward the end of the month, which could stall business reopenings and impact hiring plans, analysts told WSJ.
The analysis is based on the Labor Department's data, which reported 4.8 million new jobs in June and a decrease in the unemployment rate from 13.3 percent in May to 11.1 percent in June. In May, a survey of 2,300 tech professionals by online tech recruiting firm Hired found that about 42 percent of tech workers said they were at risk of being laid off in the next six months.