The technology industry is in a hiring slowdown, according to a new report from CompTIA. The non-profit association for the technology industry and workforce released its latest national labor market data, showing the technology industry shed more than 9,100 jobs in July. 

According to CompTIA, companies in the technology services and software development sector added an estimated 4,000 workers, which the company said offset with losses in telecommunications, cloud infrastructure and related sub-sectors. CompTIA added that the total base of the U.S. technology industry employment stands at approximately 5.6 million workers.

Technology jobs declined by 14,000 last month and unemployment within the industry sat at 3.2 percent, which is below the national average of 4.3 percent. 

"Although disappointing, the slowdown in hiring is about in line with expectations," said Tim Herbert, chief research officer, CompTIA. "Employers continue to weigh a range of factors in shorter-term technology hiring while eyeing longer-term growth strategies."

Industrywide, there were 471,000 technology positions posted last month, including more than 176,000 categorized as new postings, according to CompTIA. The company said that demand was strongest for software developers and engineers, IT project managers, data analysts, and scientists and technology support specialists, though totals in all occupation categories were down for the month.

Experts at CompTIA believe new data indicates employers continue to focus on skills-based hiring. In July, 46 percent of active technology job postings did specify a four-year degree requirement among candidates. 

Meanwhile, network support specialists, IT support specialists, and network and systems administrations saw even higher demand for four-year degrees at upward of 87 percent of postings.