The number of IT jobs in the US rose 0.05% in March from February to a total of more than 5.3, the TechServe Alliance announced Friday. The growth rate, while low, marks an improvement over previous months, according to the group, which serves as the national trade association of the IT and engineering staffing and solution industry.

“After declining steadily throughout 2017 and into January of 2018, the rate of IT job growth edged up slightly in March,” TechServe Alliance CEO Mark Roberts said.

However, the rate of IT job growth still remains anemic, Roberts said. “Given that demand for many IT skill set remains strong, the obstacles to job growth has been a limited supply of talent further exacerbated by a restrictive immigration agenda of the current administration.”

On a year-over-year basis, IT employment rose by 1.04% in March, an increase of 55,100 IT workers.

The group also measures engineering employment, which rose by 0.21% in March from February. Engineering employment was up 1.82% on a year-over-year basis.