In industries such as finance, retail, healthcare and others, IT employment broadly declined in July by 88,000 jobs, or 1.9%, according to tech industry trade group CompTIA.

The cuts last month reduced occupational IT employment by 46,000 jobs so far this year, to about 4.43 million.

That sounds alarming, right? Perhaps not — if you widen the picture a bit.

In June, IT occupational employment showed a net gain of 74,000 jobs, and this month-to-month volatility is normal because of the way the U.S. Bureau of Labor Statistics (BLS) reports the data, according the industry group. The government data includes part-time workers, such as someone doing Web design on the side.

To read this article in full or to leave a comment, please click here