U.S. companies continued adding IT jobs, while the country suffered huge job losses overall, according to consulting firm Foote Partners.

Non-farm payroll employment lost 598,000 jobs in January, but some IT positions bucked national trends, the company announced Friday. David Foote, CEO and chief research officer of IT workforce research consultancy Foote Partners, said last week's Bureau of Labor statistics showed that "IT professionals are faring better than most in the economic downturn."

"Nearly 9,000 jobs were added in October and November in the management and technical consulting services employment category, followed by a small dip in December," he said.

While the overall industry lost nearly 50,000 jobs in January, certain segments added jobs. More than 11,000 jobs were added in management and technical consulting services, while 200 more were added in data processing. Although jobs listed under the computer and electronics products category dropped by 8,800, an additional 700 jobs in computers and peripheral equipment, hosting, and related services were added.

"There's no sugar coating the news today that 3.6 million jobs have been lost in our country since the start of the recession in December 2007 and that the unemployment rate has been rising a steady clip and will continue to do so," Foote said. "But it's important to acknowledge that choosing IT as a profession or a career has indeed been a very smart move for millions of workers out there."

Foote's own data from the end of January showed that pay had risen for those with "skills in architecture, project management, IT security, database, networking, communications, and methodology and process skills and certifications over the previous three months.

"This is further evidence of the strong counter-trending we reported last week in our own IT workforce survey research, which is drawn from 84,000 IT professionals employed by nearly 2,000 employers in the North America," he said.

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