Remote working: Don’t want to sit in an office? You should get a job in tech

The number of new technology jobs that offer remote working has skyrocketed by more than three-quarters as employers broaden their search for tech talent.

CompTIA’s latest State of the Tech Workforce Report reveals that over one million tech jobs posted in 2021 offered a work from home (WFH) or hybrid work option – marking a 77% increase in remote-working tech jobs compared to 2019.

The data points to a “momentous shift in thinking about work location,” the report said, which has been sparked by pandemic-era remote working and growing acceptance among employers that IT and tech workers can perform much of their job outside of the office.

In total, more than a quarter (28%) of tech job postings in the US in 2021 offered remote working. Nationwide, employers listed more than 3.5 million job postings for IT occupations. Nearly three in 10 job postings were for jobs in emerging technologies or requiring new tech skills.

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Overall, employment in the US tech sector increased by 80,000 workers in 2021, CompTIA found. Looking ahead, CompTIA predicts that a staggering 178,000 new tech jobs will be created in the US in 2022 as demand for IT professionals shows no sign of slowing. Data scientists and analysts, cybersecurity professionals, software developers, and computer and information research scientists will lead the list of occupations expected to see strong growth in 2022.

“The data speaks to the ever-evolving tech workforce and its far-reaching impact across the national, state and metro area economies,” said Tim Herbert, chief research officer at CompTIA.

“As always the results are impressive but also a reminder of the collective effort of workers, employers, educators and industry and government organizations to build and sustain a healthy, dynamic tech workforce.”

The pandemic exposed gaps in enterprises, supply chains and working practices that more agile startups were able to fill: CompTIA found that the number of technology businesses increased by 5.3% in 2021 – the equivalent of 25,500 businesses.

All 50 US states added to their base of tech firms, from startups launching new ventures to established tech firms expanding operations with another business unit or expanding other states, the report found.

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Technology-related employment increased in 44 states in 2021. Texas proved to be the biggest creator of technology jobs last year, with 10,851 new postings. This was followed by Florida, which created 10,522 new tech jobs, followed by California (5,165), North Carolina (5,004) and Washington (4,469). The top states for job growth were Nevada (+3.3%), Tennessee (+2.9%), Rhode Island (+2.9%), Idaho (+2.7%), and Wyoming (+2.6%).

At the metro level, employers in the Dallas-Fort-Worth-Arlington region added more technology workers in 2021 (5,321) than any other market in the country, CompTIA found. This was more than double that of the next closest market, Seattle, where 2,651 tech jobs were added. Denver, Miami, Austin and Salt Lake City also recorded “impressive” growth.

The 2022 report shows that there was little change in the characteristics of the tech workforce with one exception: representation of Hispanic or Latino workers in tech occupations increased from 7% nationally in 2020 to 8% in 2021.

Nearly 8.7 million people work in tech-related occupations in the US, with “tens of millions more” employed as digital knowledge workers, according to CompTIA. The tech industry accounts for 9.3% of direct value in the U.S. economy – representative of a staggering $1.8 trillion.

The report also revealed that 27 US states have a tech sector that generates $10 billion or more in direct economic impact.