IT jobs declined again in May, but the pace of contraction was only 0.08%, according to an analysis of jobs data by the TechServe Alliance, an industry group for IT and engineering staffing firms.

“The May IT employment numbers show a promising trend — while employment continued to decline, we see a deceleration in the rate of decline in the last three months,” TechServe Alliance CEO Mark Roberts said.

Total IT employment was 5.33 million in May. On a year-over-year basis, the decline is 2.3%.

While hiring has slowed in the tech industry — particularly in places such as Silicon Valley — there are other sectors and geographic regions where employers continue to expand their IT workforce, according to Roberts.

“Rapid advancements in artificial intelligence, cloud computing, cybersecurity and other areas demand that companies remain at the forefront of industry developments to remain competitive and seize new opportunities,” Roberts said. “Adding IT talent to their rosters is critical to their achieving their business goals.”

Separately, the number of engineering jobs rose by 0.25% in May compared with April for a total of nearly 2.8 million jobs. Engineering jobs increased year over year by 2.86%.