The number of people working in information and communication, a category that includes many tech workers, fell by 0.3% in January 2023 compared to December 2022.
The Monthly Estimates of Payroll Employees from the Central Statistics Office shows that there were 125,300 people working in the sector in January compared to 125,700 the previous month.
Although down on a monthly basis, the figure is 6.1% higher than January 2022 when there were 118,100 working in the information and communication sector.
On a non-seasonally adjusted basis, the number of people working in the sector fell by 1,100 in January.
“Having declined in three of the past five months, this new and important gauge of employment in the sector has now fallen by 1,600 since its peak of 125,800 reached in August of last year,” said economist Simon Barry.
“Despite these recent declines, tech services employment remains over 19,000 higher than its January 2020 pre-pandemic level, consistent with the exceptionally rapid growth enjoyed by the sector over the past three years,” Mr Barry said.
“However, the emerging softening of jobs trends in the very latest figures is a reflection of the headwinds now facing the sector which have been evident in several recent high-profile job cut announcements,” he added.
The numbers working in professional, scientific and technical activities also fell slightly on a monthly basis, down 0.6%, but is higher compared to January 2022, increasing by 3.6%.
According to the CSO, all economic sectors showed annual increases in employment with the largest rises recorded in Accommodation & Food Services Activities and Financial, Insurance & Real Estate Activities.
On a monthly basis, the largest decline in employment was recorded in Agriculture, Forestry & Fishing which fell by 1.9%.
The 15 to 19-year-old age group recorded the largest monthly rise in the employee index while there was a monthly decline of 0.1% in the 25 to 34-year-old age group.
All age groups saw annual increases in employment.