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How many new employees are hired, per year, for technology companies of the following sizes: under 10 employees, 11 to 50 employees, 51 to 250 employees, 251 to 500 employees, 501 to 1000 employees, and 1,000+ employees?
Hi! Thanks for asking Wonder how many new employees are hired each year for technology companies of various sizes.
The short answer is companies under 100 employees are most likely to be adding the most employees. The most useful sources I found were CompTIA and the Census Bureau's labor statistics. Below you will find a deep dive of my findings.
Despite thorough research and deep dive efforts, there are no publicly available sources detailing the exact number of new employees being hired by technology companies broken down by size. Instead, it was necessary to use a variety of sources to triangulate some figures.
TOTAL JOB GROWTH
According to CompTIA, the technology industry added 182,220 new jobs in 2016. The report gives a total 6.9 million technology jobs available, meaning there was around 2.64% growth in new jobs over the sector. Unfortunately, the report does not break down employment changes by company size. This is actually a slowdown from CompTIA's 2015 figures that showed a job growth rate of 3% in 2015.
JOBS CREATED BY COMPANY SIZE
The US Census Bureau does gather data on employment by establishment size, and we can compare the latest available figures to see any net changes in job creation. Unfortunately again, the latest available figures are from 2013-14, but this can at least give us an indication of how companies of different sizes add employees. All figures are total for the US, as I will explain later that it is virtually impossible to isolate just the technology industry from Census Bureau data:
<20 employees: 5,130,348 companies with 20,408,789 employees (avg. 3.98 employees per company)
20-99 employees: 494,170 companies with 19,387,249 employees (avg. 39.23 employees per company)
100-499 employees: 83,423 companies with 16,266,855 (avg. 194.99 employees per company)
500+ employees: 18,219 companies with 59,875,575 employees. (avg. 3,286 employees per company)
<20 employees: 5,205,640 companies with 20,687,543 employees (avg. 3.97 employees per company)
20-99 employees: 513,179 companies with 20,121,588 employees (avg. 32.21 employees per company)
100-499 employees: 87,563 companies with 17,085,461 (avg. 195.21 employees per company)
500+ employees: 19,076 companies with 63,175,352 employees. (avg. 3,311 employees per company)
So for the US, smaller companies of under 20 employees and 20-99 employees definitely grew in size, showing that these company sizes are the most likely to be adding the most new jobs. Larger companies of 100-499 employees and 500+ employees actually contracted in average size between 2012 and 2014.
Isolating out every NAICS code to do with technology is beyond the scope of a Wonder request, but I did select 54 ("Professional, Scientific and Technical Services") as a case study, as its growth rate seem to reflect the same healthy growth of the technology industry overall.
Between 2013 and 2014 (latest available figures), this industry saw a net job creation of 310,800. Establishments under 20 employees added 119,574 roles; 20-99 employees size added 35,299; 100-499 company size added 51,666 employees and 500+ employee companies added 104,261. Percentage change was:
<20: 7.9%
20-99: 2.4%
100-499: 4.5%
500+: 3.1%
Unfortunately, Census Bureau data only gives us net job creation rather than gross, but it's still a helpful tool to see which company sizes are expanding the most.
TURNOVER
While net job growth is high in the technology industry, this segment also has high turnover rates. IT companies in the Fortune 500 list had the highest rates overall, ranging in 0.8-1.8 tenure averages. Survey data also found tech workers were the least likely to say they would stay with their companies for another year, and Dice found that turnover rates ("voluntary quits") have been steadily rising since 2009. The tech sector has lower tenure rates than even the service industry, with many companies rarely having a median rate of over 2 years, compared to the national median of 4.7 years.
CONCLUSION
To wrap up, while exact statistics are not available, data shows us that smaller companies are those adding the most employees in the tech industry. Additionally, turnover rates within the tech industry are known to be high, far above national medians. Turnover is much higher in larger companies like Google or Apple.
I hope this is helpful. Please feel free to ask Wonder if you have any more questions!