Bucking the broader economic trends, IT employment continued its month-over-month climb last month growing for the 18th consecutive month.

According to a monthly index of IT jobs developed and published by TechServe Alliance, a collaboration of IT services firms, clients, consultants and suppliers, the number of IT jobs increased by 1,800 to 4,053,600 jobs in July and is up by more than 120,000 jobs fromJuly 2010.

Due to regularly reported revisions of BLS data upon which the IT Index analysis is based, the previously reported 300 job June decline is now an 800 job gain—continuing the month-over-month growth trend.

"Despite the tepid recovery, IT employment remains a bright spot. Both the data and the anecdotal reports of our member companies confirm that demand for IT professionals remains robust with an acute shortage of qualified professionals in certain skill sets," statedMark Roberts, CEO of TechServe Alliance. "While mindful that the IT employment is not immune to the broader macroeconomic trends, we remain optimistic about the prospect of continued growth in IT employment for the foreseeable future," commented Roberts.