The number of IT jobs grew 0.01% sequentially last month to 5,327,100 according to TechServe Alliance, the national trade association of the IT & Engineering Staffing and Solutions industry. On a year-over-year basis, IT employment grew by 1.18% since February 2017 adding 61,900 IT workers.

Engineering employment increased by 0.23 percent sequentially to 2,576,200. On a year-over-year basis, growth in engineering employment increased by 1.67% since February 2017 or 42,300 engineering workers.

"Despite a robust economy and very strong demand for talent in many IT skill sets, the rate of IT job growth decelerated throughout 2017.  We begin 2018 with the rate of IT job growth essentially flat," stated Mark Roberts, CEO of TechServe Alliance.  "This is clearly attributable to the shortage of IT talent in many high demand skill sets which is being further exacerbated by restrictive immigration policies and its associated chilling effect," added Roberts.