Hiring of technology professionals has been on the upswing in the first half of this year, with new IT hires accounting for about 10 percent of all the job growth in the U.S. in June, according to two independent assessments. Total tech employment reached 4.47 million in June, an increase of 22,600 jobs from the prior month, or a .51 percent gain, according to TechServe Alliance, an IT services industry group which tracks employment data month-to-month. The total excludes tech manufacturing employment.