The tech unemployment rate told a better story than the trends in the overall U.S. labor market in July, hovering around
half of the national level. And bringing in an added boost to tech's strong performance was a turnaround in the telecom sector. All told, 163,000 jobs were added last month to all industry sectors and although Reuters called it the most hiring in five months, the nation's unemployment rate inched up to 8.3 percent, further raising
worries of a slowing economy. However, the sectors dominated by tech showed
continuing trends in Friday's Labor Department report, though for once telecom wasn't on the skids. Hiring among makers of communications equipment rose 1.3 percent to 110,200 positions, and telecommunications grew 2.8 percent to 834,100 jobs. Employment in other tech categories:
- Computers and peripheral equipment, up 0.3 percent to 166,500 jobs.
- Semiconductors and electronic components, down 1.7 percent to 385,700.
- Data processing, hosting and related services, up 2.1 percent to 243,200.
- Computer systems design and related services, up 7 percent to 1,605,200.
- Management and technical consulting services, up 6.3 percent to 1,142,700.
Though not limited to the tech market, temporary help services was among the healthiest sectors, up 14.1 percent to 2,539,600 positions, a growing trend as economic uncertainty makes employers wary of committing to full-time hires. A separate report the Bureau of Labor Statistics, though not specific to tech, said the Silicon Valley area was the metropolitan market with the largest job increase by percentage year-over-year. It was followed by Houston and Austin, Texas. The New York area ranked tops in actual numbers (+116,000), followed by the Los Angeles area (+88,400) and Houston (+85,000). Looking back at June, which the BLS report covered as well, a report from the California Employment Development Department found Cisco among the companies placing the most job ads (1,469) in June. In July, it announced plans to
cut 1,300 jobs.
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