US employers in the information industry had 2,739,000 jobs, about 2.74 million, in September, the Bureau of Labor Statistics estimated on 2 October. That is 120,000 fewer than in September 2025, when the estimate was 2,859,000 [1].
From August, the industry lost 10,000 jobs. The BLS counts that as little change: "Employment in all major industries changed little over the month," its release says [1].
Over the year, the fall is about 4.2%. July's estimate was 2,767,000 and August's 2,749,000 [1].
Computer systems design and related services, where many software and IT jobs are counted, had 2,355,400 jobs in September. That is 4,400 fewer than in August and 32,200 fewer than a year earlier [1].
Across the whole economy, payrolls rose by 29,000 and unemployment was 4.2% [1].
What it measures
Jobs on the payrolls of businesses and government offices, counted by the employer's industry, not by the worker's job [1].
The information industry covers publishing, including software publishing; film and sound recording; broadcasting; telecoms; computing infrastructure, data processing and web hosting; and web search and other information services [1][2].
Within it, telecoms had 564,600 jobs in September, and computing infrastructure, data processing and web hosting 453,800 [1].
What it does not tell you
Which jobs went, or why. The survey counts jobs by industry and gives no reasons [1].
How final it is. August's and September's figures are preliminary. This release revised July's change in total payrolls from +21,000 to −10,000 [1].
Fit: many software and IT jobs are in other industries, such as computer systems design, which the BLS counts in professional and business services, not in information [3].
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