IT employment in the US posted a slight increase in April — inching up by 900 jobs with total IT employment at more than 5.3 million, the TechServe Alliance reported May 8.

The increase in IT jobs was 0.02%.

“At this point in the cycle, we are looking more at the trajectory of IT employment rather than absolute gains,” TechServe CEO Mark Roberts said in a press release.

“With April marking the fourth consecutive month of gains after 23 months of no growth, it appears we are moving in the right direction,” Roberts said. “April’s IT employment figures echo what we are hearing from our members who report a modest uptick in [first-quarter] IT hiring after a more challenging 2023.”

Demand will remain strong particularly for workers assisting businesses in deploying AI, he said. But the industry isn’t likely to return to the whirlwind days of hiring in 2021 and 2022.

The number of US IT jobs was also down year over year by 26,000.

The TechServe Alliance’s report also included engineering jobs, which rose by 1,200 in April for total employment of more than 2.8 million. Engineering jobs were also up by 44,100 year over year.