LinkedIn Workforce Report | United States | April 2017

Published on Apr 5, 2017

Over 133 million workers in the U.S. have LinkedIn profiles; over 20,000 companies in the U.S. use LinkedIn to recruit; over 3 million jobs are posted on LinkedIn in the U.S. every month; and members can add over 50,000 skills to their profiles to showcase their professional brands. That gives us unique and valuable insight into U.S. workforce trends.

The LinkedIn Workforce Report is a monthly report on employment trends in the U.S. workforce. It’s divided into two sections: a U.S. section that provides insights into hiring, skills gaps, and migration trends across the country, and a City section that provides insights into localized employment trends in 20 of the largest U.S. metro areas: Atlanta, Austin, Boston, Chicago, Cleveland-Akron, Dallas-Ft.Worth, Denver, Detroit, Houston, Los Angeles, Miami-Ft.Lauderdale, Minneapolis-St.Paul, Nashville, New York City, Philadelphia, Phoenix, the San Francisco Bay Area, Seattle, St. Louis, and Washington, D.C.

Our vision is to create economic opportunity for every worker in the global workforce. We hope you’ll use insights from our report to better navigate your career - whether you’re unemployed and wondering if hiring is improving in your industry, exploring new skills to learn to make yourself more attractive to employers, or considering a move and curious which cities need your skills most.

Key Insights

After an exceptionally strong start to the year, hiring moderated two months in a row – Hiring across the U.S. was 5.8% higher in March than March 2016. But seasonally-adjusted hiring (hiring that excludes seasonal hiring variations – like companies hiring less in December due to the holiday season) was 0.9% lower in March than February. While hiring remains solid, March marked the second month in a row seasonally-adjusted hiring moderated. After an exceptionally strong start to the year, it appears employers are taking a slight step back from hiring to see how the economy takes shape in the months ahead. Notably, hiring in the oil and energy industry was 0.9% lower in March than February after being up five straight months.
The Northwest and South continue to attract workers – Seattle, Austin, and Denver gained the most workers in the last 12 months, with Portland, Dallas, Tampa-St. Petersburg, Charlotte, and Nashvilleclose behind. This is an ongoing trend we’re keeping an eye on. If you're interested in moving to Seattle, Austin, or Denver, check out their City Reports to see if you have the skills employers in those cities need most. If you do, take a look at their open jobs. If you don't, the City Reports feature LinkedIn Learning courses that will help you learn the most in-demand skills.
Austin replaced Houston as the city with the third largest skills gap – Skills gaps are mismatches between the skills workers have (supply) and the skills employers need (demand). The San Francisco Bay Area and Washington, D.C. continue to have the largest skills gaps, which are largely due to a scarcity of workers with service-industry skills – like nursing, education and teaching, and retail store operations. But in March, Austin replaced Houston as the city with the third largest skills gap. Like many cities, Austin’s skills gap is caused by a scarcity and abundance of workers with certain skills. But the skills that are in abundance – technology skills like integrated circuit design, Perly/Python/Ruby, and virtualization – are becoming more abundant, and the skills that are in scarcity – primarily service-industry skills – are becoming more scarce. It’s possible that as Austin’s economy changes, some skills are becoming obsolete, while supply of scarce skills hasn’t caught up. Regardless, Austin gained the second most workers in the last 12 months. So if you’re considering moving there, make sure you check out its City Report to see if you have the skills employers in the city need most.

After An Exceptionally Strong Start To The Year, Hiring Moderated Two Months In A Row

Hiring across the U.S. was 5.8% higher in March than in March 2016.

As you can see in the chart below, seasonally-adjusted hiring was 0.9% lower in March than February. While hiring remains solid, March marked the second month in a row seasonally-adjusted hiring moderated. After an exceptionally strong start to the year, it appears employers are taking a slight step back from hiring to see how the economy takes shape in the months ahead.

If you’re looking for a new gig this month, check out LinkedIn Jobs!

Industry Hiring

Following the national trend, hiring in most industries experienced a slight dip in March compared to February. Notably, hiring in the oil and energy industry was 0.9% lower in March than February after being up five months straight. This slight decline is outweighed by the whopping 30.8% increase in hiring the industry has experienced since March 2016.

The Northwest and South continue to attract workers

Generally speaking, cities that are gaining lots of workers have stronger economies than cities that are losing lots of workers.As you can see below, Seattle, Austin, and Denver gained the most workers over the last 12 months. For every 10,000 LinkedIn members in Seattle, 69.4 workers moved to the city in the last year – mostly from the San Francisco Bay Area, New York City, and Chicago. Portland, Dallas, Tampa-St. Petersburg, Charlotte, and Nashville also rounded out the top 10 list.

Atlanta, Dallas-Ft.Worth, and Houston continue to gain workers from Chicago and New York City, but otherwise serve as regional hubs for workers coming from the surrounding areas. All three of these cities are losing workers to Seattle and Denver, which attract workers from across the U.S. Next month we’ll explore regional hubs more to see how they influence the migration of workers across the U.S.

If you're interested in moving to Atlanta, Dallas-Ft.Worth, Houston, Denver or Seattle, check out their City Reports to see if you have the skills employers in those cities need most. If you do, take a look at their open jobs. If you don't, the City Reports feature LinkedIn Learning courses that will help you learn the most in-demand skills.

The cities that lost the most workers in the last 12 months were Hartford, Providence, and Norfolk. So for every 10,000 LinkedIn members in Hartford, 56.7 left the city in past year. If you live in any of the cities that lost the most workers and are considering relocating, take a look at the City Reports for the cities that gained the most workers in the last year to see if you have the skills companies in those cities need most.

The Northwest and South continue to attract workers

Austin Replaced Houston As The City With The Third Largest Skills Gap

A skills gap is a mismatch between the skills employers need (demand) and the skills workers have (supply). There is an abundance of skills when supply exceeds demand. There is a scarcity of skills when demand exceeds supply. A city with a scarcity of skills needs more workers with certain skills, while a city with an abundance of skills has too many workers with certain skills.

A skills gap is good news for jobseekers when it’s caused by a scarcity of skills, and bad news when it’s caused by an abundance of skills.

The San Francisco Bay Area and Washington, D.C. continue to have the largest skills gaps, which are largely due to a scarcity of workers with service-industry skills – like nursing, education and teaching, and retail store operations.

But in March, Austin replaced Houston as the city with the third largest skills gap. Like many cities, Austin’s skills gap is caused by a scarcity and abundance of workers with certain skills. But the skills that are in abundance – technology skills like integrated circuit design, Perly/Python/Ruby, and virtualization – are becoming more abundant, and the skills that are in scarcity – primarily service-industry skills – are becoming more scarce. It’s possible that as Austin’s economy changes, some skills are becoming obsolete, while supply of scarce skills hasn’t caught up. Regardless, Austin gained the second most workers in the last 12 months. So if you’re considering moving there, make sure you check out its City Report to see if you have the skills employers in the city need most.

The San Francisco Bay Area, Austin, and Washington, D.C. have the greatest scarcity of skills, primarily in service-industry skills. For more information, check out their City Reports.

The cities with the greatest abundances of skills are West Palm Beach and Miami-Ft.Lauderdale. This is likely because they’re home to a relatively large population of retired skilled workers, who remain active on boards and in non-profits.

Check out the City Reports for Atlanta, Austin, Boston, Chicago, Cleveland-Akron, Dallas, Denver, Houston, Los Angeles, Miami-Ft.Lauderdale, Minneapolis-St.Paul, Nashville, New York City, Philadelphia, Phoenix, the San Francisco Bay Area, Seattle, St. Louis, and Washington, D.C. to see which skills are most scarce in those cities, and which jobs are open.