The number of IT jobs in the US edged up 0.04 in June from May to a total of more than 5.3 million, the TechServe Alliance announced. While IT job growth had historically outperformed the growth rate of the overall workforce, the shortage of IT talent is causing the sector to underperform, according to the group, which serves as the national trade association of the IT and engineering staffing and solution industry.

“With an insufficient domestic talent supply and the ‘doubling down’ by the Administration on its restrictive immigration policies, the ability to attract and recruit IT professionals in high demand skill sets who have many options will continue to be at a premium,” TechServe Alliance CEO Mark Roberts said.

On a year-over-year basis, IT employment rose by 0.78% in June, an increase of 41,200 IT workers.

The group also measures engineering employment, which rose by 0.29% in June from May. Engineering employment increased 2.16% on a year-over-year basis, an increase of 55,100 engineering workers.