Status: Computer Related Q3 2012 – Q3 2013

The BLS doesn’t have much faith in these quarterly numbers due small reporting samples, but they are the statistics used (misused?) in the media to quote the unemployment statistic by occupation.  I’m only interested in employment levels at the occupational level, but there is an interesting caveat.  The occupational unemployment statistic only includes those who are seeking work and their last job was in the specific occupation.

Therefore:

• A student looking for work in his chosen path will not counted as unemployed in the chosen occupation.
• A Programmer seeking employment as a web developer would not be counted as unemployed in the chosen occupation.
• A Computer scientist who was last employed as a writer would not count as unemployed in her/his occupation.
• Foreign nationals working on temporary visas cannot be unemployed.

For the traditional Computer related occupations, which in this case includes, Computer and information systems managers and Computer hardware engineers.

• Employment Growth/Loss Total =  107,000
• Employment Growth/Loss Private =  172,000
• Employment Growth/Loss Government =  –19,000
• Employment Growth/Loss Self Employed =  2,000

(Numbers do not add up, some occupations to not report in certain categories)
We all know how volatile the industry is concerning layoffs, maybe these figures will help someone make a decision.

Computer Occupations	Q3 2013	Q3 2012	Loss Gain
(numbers in thousands)	Computer and information systems managers
Employed Total	543	601	-58
Wage and Salary Total	538	593	-55
Private: Total	462	511	-49
Private: Incorporated self-employed	15	7	8
Private: Other	448	504	-56
Government: Total	76	82	-6
Government: Federal	30	20	10
Government: State	21	32	-11
Government: Local	25	30	-5
Self-employed unincorporated	5	8	-3
Unpaid Family	-	–	-
	Computer and information research scientists		Loss Gain
Employed Total	13	33	-20
Wage and Salary Total	13	33	-20
Private: Total	6	24	-18
Private: Incorporated self-employed	–	–	-
Private: Other	6	24	-18
Government: Total	7	8	-1
Government: Federal	6	4	2
Government: State	1	4	-3
Government: Local	–	–	-
Self-employed unincorporated	–	–	-
Unpaid Family	–	–	-
	Computer systems analysts		Loss Gain
Employed Total	559	503	56
Wage and Salary Total	524	483	41
Private: Total	469	421	48
Private: Incorporated self-employed	28	17	11
Private: Other	441	404	37
Government: Total	55	62	-7
Government: Federal	19	10	9
Government: State	27	32	-5
Government: Local	8	19	-11
Self-employed unincorporated	35	20	15
Unpaid Family	–	–	-
	Information security analysts		Loss Gain
Employed Total	48	62	-14
Wage and Salary Total	48	62	-14
Private: Total	43	51	-8
Private: Incorporated self-employed	1	–	-
Private: Other	42	51	-9
Government: Total	5	12	-7
Government: Federal	5	7	-2
Government: State	0	3	-3
Government: Local	–	1	-
Self-employed unincorporated	–	–	-
Unpaid Family	–	–	-
	Computer programmers		Loss Gain
Employed Total	516	492	24
Wage and Salary Total	511	471	40
Private: Total	461	428	33
Private: Incorporated self-employed	8	2	6
Private: Other	453	426	27
Government: Total	50	44	6
Government: Federal	16	12	4
Government: State	24	22	2
Government: Local	10	10	0
Self-employed unincorporated	5	21	-16
Unpaid Family	–	–	-
	Software developers, applications and systems software		Loss Gain
Employed Total	1,088	1,206	-
Wage and Salary Total	1,076	1,189	-
Private: Total	993	1,121	-
Private: Incorporated self-employed	20	16	4
Private: Other	972	1,105	-
Government: Total	84	68	16
Government: Federal	47	30	17
Government: State	18	25	-7
Government: Local	18	13	5
Self-employed unincorporated	12	17	-5
Unpaid Family	–	–	-
	Web developers Web developers		Loss Gain
Employed Total	192	177	15
Wage and Salary Total	166	145	21
Private: Total	154	117	37
Private: Incorporated self-employed	13	9	4
Private: Other	142	108	34
Government: Total	11	28	-17
Government: Federal	1	8	-7
Government: State	8	17	-9
Government: Local	2	3	-1
Self-employed unincorporated	26	32	-6
Unpaid Family	–	–	-
	Computer support specialists		Loss Gain
Employed Total	520	464	56
Wage and Salary Total	512	457	55
Private: Total	445	380	65
Private: Incorporated self-employed	3	1	2
Private: Other	442	379	63
Government: Total	67	77	-10
Government: Federal	17	18	-1
Government: State	24	28	-4
Government: Local	26	31	-5
Self-employed unincorporated	8	7	1
Unpaid Family	0	–	-
	Database administrators		Loss Gain
Employed Total	101	117	-16
Wage and Salary Total	101	114	-13
Private: Total	90	95	-5
Private: Incorporated self-employed	–	–	-
Private: Other	90	95	-5
Government: Total	11	19	-8
Government: Federal	5	5	0
Government: State	6	8	-2
Government: Local	–	6	-
Self-employed unincorporated	–	3	-
Unpaid Family	–	–	-
	Network and computer systems administrators		Loss Gain
Employed Total	203	224	-21
Wage and Salary Total	200	219	-19
Private: Total	166	178	-12
Private: Incorporated self-employed	2	5	-3
Private: Other	164	173	-9
Government: Total	34	41	-7
Government: Federal	7	13	-6
Government: State	10	13	-3
Government: Local	17	15	2
Self-employed unincorporated	3	6	-3
Unpaid Family	–	–	-
	Computer network architects Computer network architects		Loss Gain
Employed Total	127	119	8
Wage and Salary Total	125	114	11
Private: Total	108	105	3
Private: Incorporated self-employed	–	2	-
Private: Other	108	103	5
Government: Total	17	9	8
Government: Federal	4	4	0
Government: State	5	1	4
Government: Local	8	4	4
Self-employed unincorporated	1	5	-4
Unpaid Family	–	–	-
	Computer occupations, all other		Loss Gain
Employed Total	367	305	62
Wage and Salary Total	364	291	73
Private: Total	282	223	59
Private: Incorporated self-employed	6	4	2
Private: Other	277	219	58
Government: Total	82	68	14
Government: Federal	33	29	4
Government: State	20	16	4
Government: Local	29	24	5
Self-employed unincorporated	3	14	-11
Unpaid Family	–	–	-
	Computer hardware engineers		Loss Gain
Employed Total	85	70	15
Wage and Salary Total	85	66	19
Private: Total	81	62	19
Private: Incorporated self-employed	–	1	-
Private: Other	81	61	20
Government: Total	4	4	0
Government: Federal	1	2	-1
Government: State	3	1	2
Government: Local	–	1	-
Self-employed unincorporated	–	4	-
Unpaid Family	–	–	-

For more information on the BLS Quarterly reports see:  IT Industry Refuses Unemployed Professionals