Strong tech hiring momentum continued into January, according to analysis of the latest labor market data by CompTIA, the non-profit association for the information technology (IT) industry and workforce.

Tech-related hiring contributed to the strong national growth of 467,000 jobs in January, as reported by the U.S. Bureau of Labor Statistics.

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Technology companies increased employment by 24,300 workers in January, the 14th consecutive month of tech employment growth at the industry level. IT occupations throughout the economy increased by 178,0001, lowering the unemployment rate for tech occupations to 1.7% in January, down from 2% in December.

"By all accounts this was an exceptionally strong start to the year for tech employment," said Tim Herbert, chief research officer at CompTIA. "The arms race in recruiting and retaining tech talent undoubtedly challenges employers in direct and indirect ways."

Employer job postings for technology positions reached nearly 340,000 last month, spanning industry sector, geographic location and skillsets. The January rate of tech job postings continues to track above the 12-month average by approximately 11%.2

Tech job postings surpassed 10,000 openings in eight metropolitan areas across the country, from New York (19,265) to Seattle (10,047). The data also reveals that employment opportunities in technology aren't limited to the biggest cities. Lansing, Mich., ranked third nationally among all metro markets in the month-over-month increase in tech job postings. Michigan saw the largest jump in job postings among the states, with a total of 10,559 in January, an increase of more than 2,100 from December.

"Employer job posting analysis confirms the interconnected nature of technical skills across cloud infrastructure, applications, data and cybersecurity, as well as the critical importance of soft skills, project management skills and business acumen," said Herbert.

Professional, scientific and technical services (56,860), finance and insurance (38,820), manufacturing (31,379), information (16,796) and retail trade (11,687) led the list of industries with tech job postings in January.

More than half of January's job gains within the tech sector occurred in the IT services and custom software development category (+14,800), an important indicator of business activity, especially among small and medium-sized companies. Tech firms also added workers in data processing, hosting and related services (+7,500), other information services, including search engines (+3,100) and computer and electronic products manufacturing (+2,000). Only the telecommunications employment category was in negative territory (-3,100).