Information technology sector employment grew for the third consecutive month in September, though the gain was modest at just 2,900 new jobs, according to the IT Employment Tracker released by CompTIA, the nonprofit association for the technology industry.

September's IT sector job growth was led by the software and services category, which added 5,400 jobs, according to CompTIA's analysis of the Bureau of Labor Statistics' Employment Situation report (#jobsreport) finds that.

"Services and software have accounted for 80 percent of new job growth in the IT sector so far this year," said Tim Herbert, senior vice president, research and market intelligence, CompTIA. "This reflects the continued momentum of businesses of all types pursuing digital strategies."

September job growth also occurred in the information segment, with search portals (up 2,100) and data processing, hosting and related services category (up 600).

The gains were offset, however, by another month of declines in telecommunications (down 3,700 jobs in September) and computer and electronics product manufacturing (down 1,500). In 2016, these two categories have shed 27,200 jobs.

Total IT sector employment stands at about 4.4 million. Thru the first three quarters of 2016, IT job growth stood at 1.2 percent. To equal the annual growth rate of 2015, job gains will need to pick-up in the fourth quarter.

More Volatility for IT Occupation Employment

The second component of the nation's IT workforce – IT occupations across all other industries – experienced another month of volatility in September, losing 142,000 jobs. This follows a month (August) when 205,000 IT positions were added to the economy. Year to date, there have been four months of positive job gains, and five months of job losses.

"There are a number of limitations with the monthly occupation-level data published by the BLS, so we don't want to jump to conclusion based on a month of data," said Herbert. "The macro trend points toward sustained demand for tech talent."  

For the year, job growth in core IT positions has grown by about 17,000 positions and totals approximately 4.5 million.