IT employment in the US posted its largest single drop in April since March 2009, according to an analysis by the TechServe Alliance, the national trade association of IT and engineering staffing. The number of IT jobs fell by 45,800 from the previous month, a decrease of 0.86%, to a total of 5.3 million jobs.
On a year-over-year basis, the number of jobs was down by 43,600.
TechServe Alliance CEO Mark Roberts said despite the largest loss in IT jobs since the Great Recession, it wasn’t as bad as the 13.5% loss in the total job market.
“The one-month decline experienced by the labor markets is nothing short of breathtaking. Unfortunately, given the extent of the economic damage inflicted by the Covid-19 crisis, significant future job losses lie ahead,” Roberts said. “While there are few silver linings in the jobs picture, IT, and to a lesser extent engineering, will continue to fare better than the overall workforce.”
The TechServe Alliance also noted the number of engineering jobs fell by 6.7% in April to a total of 2.5 million jobs. It was the largest decline since the organization began its engineering jobs index.
Year over year, engineering jobs were down 5.5%.