The number of IT jobs in the US edged up 0.2% in January from December to almost 5.1 million, reported TechServe Alliance, an association of IT and engineering staffing companies. Year-over-year IT employment in the US rose by 4.0% in January.

“As we begin 2016, the rate of IT job growth continued to decelerate with engineering employment showing modest improvement following an anemic 2015,” said TechServe Alliance CEO Mark Roberts.

The number of US engineering jobs edged up 0.2% in January from December, to more than 2.5 million jobs. Year-over-year, the increase was 0.7%.

“Despite the deceleration in IT job growth, it continues to outperform the overall workforce,” said Roberts. “Rarely is economic data universally all positive or all negative. While apprehension over the deteriorating global macroeconomic picture is no doubt weighing on the entire labor market, we continue to see strong demand and a shortage of supply in many IT and engineering skill sets.”