Employment in the U.S. information technology sector remained stuck in neutral in May, according to the "CompTIA IT Employment Tracker" released by the world's leading technology association.

Employment fell by an estimated 200 positions last month, CompTIA's analysis of today's Bureau of Labor Statistics "Employment Situation" (#JobsReport) reveals.

Computer and electronic products manufacturing shed 1,700 jobs, while the telecommunications category dipped by 1,100 positions. For the first time in many months the IT services and custom software design employment category lost jobs – a modest decline of 200 positions.

May job gains were recorded in the categories of other information services, including service portals (+ 1,800) and data processing, hosting and related services (+ 1,000).

For the year, IT sector job growth is in positive territory, up an estimated 39,500 positions to approximately 4.4 million workers.

Even with the stagnant jobs report for May, the fundamentals of the IT sector remains strong. For example, 83 percent of the industry executives surveyed last month for the quarterly "CompTIA IT Industry Business Confidence Index" said their companies are on target or ahead of revenue goals for the year.

"Demand for software solutions and technology services remains robust across many sectors of the economy," said Tim Herbert, CompTIA's senior vice president for research and market intelligence. "Businesses engaged in digital transformation are investing in these areas for a variety of reasons: to enhance productivity, enter new markets, expand e-commerce engagement, or automate routine processes."

The second component of the nation's IT workforce – IT occupations in all other industries – declined by 107,000 in May, the largest drop since September 2016. The May decline follows a month (April) when an estimated 90,000 jobs were added to the IT workforce, attesting to the volatility of the month-to-month hiring numbers.

Job postings for core IT positions were down an estimated 2,500 in May from the April total. Software and applications development occupations continue to be the most in-demand positions employers are looking to fill.