LinkedIn Workforce Report | United States | April 2018

Over 146 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.

This LinkedIn Workforce Report is a monthly report on employment trends in the U.S. workforce. It’s divided into two sections: a National 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, 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. Whether you’re a worker, an employer, a new grad, or a policymaker, we hope you’ll use insights from our report to better understand and navigate the dynamics of today’s labor market.

Key Insights

• Hiring keeps up the pace through March – In March, hiring across the U.S. was 19.3% higher than in March 2017. Seasonally-adjusted hiring was 3.1% higher in March than in February 2018. Hiring has been slightly better through the start of 2018 than it was in the second half of 2017, but year-over-year comparisons will become more challenging as we move into spring, when hiring skyrocketed last year. In line with national hiring trends, the industries with the biggest year-over-year hiring increases in March were financial services & insurance (20.9% higher); aerospace, automotive, and transportation (19.0% higher); and manufacturing and industrial (18.8% higher). Notably, hiring seems to be slowing in the professional services industry: after a strong run in 2017, seasonally-adjusted hiring fell in February 2018, stayed flat through March and was only up 9.9% year-over-year—much less than the national average

• Top destinations for grads looking to go green  –  The fastest-growing hubs for people skilled in renewable and sustainable energy, ecology and environmental science, and green building and construction are Greensboro-Winston-Salem, Salt Lake City, Las Vegas, and Nashville. And the hottest hiring markets overall—where people with these same skills are most likely to get hired—are Raleigh-Durham, the San Francisco Bay Area, and Boston. So if you have environmental science skills and are looking for a job, these cities are a great place to start your search. Or if you’re looking to join an existing, environmentally-minded community, look no further than Sacramento, Denver, and Portland: where people with environmental skills are more prevalent as a proportion of the local population than in any other city.

• Myth busted: San Franciscans aren’t actually fleeing to the Midwest – Despite its steep housing costs and long commutes, San Francisco is still a net attracter of talent: our data shows that the number of people moving to the San Francisco Bay Area continues to outweigh the number departing for greener (less expensive) pastures. And cities in the industrial heartland like Chicago, Pittsburgh, Detroit, Minneapolis, St. Louis, and Cleveland-Akron are still losing workers to the Bay Area. The broader trend worth paying attention to, however, is that the number of people moving to San Francisco has dropped 41.7% since February 2017. San Francisco is losing talent to cities where large tech companies have established a growing presence and overall living costs are notably lower, such as Seattle (#1 destination for people leaving San Francisco), Denver (#4) and Austin (#5), as well as less expensive “commuter towns” further outside the Bay Area, like Sacramento (#3), Stockton (#10), Modesto (#11), Fresno (#13), and Salinas (#14).

Hiring keeps up the pace through March

In March, hiring across the U.S. was 19.3% higher than in March 2017.

Seasonally-adjusted hiring was 3.1% higher in March than in February 2018. Hiring has been slightly better through the start of 2018 than it was in the second half of 2017, but year-over-year comparisons will become more challenging as we move into spring, when hiring skyrocketed last year.

Industry Hiring

In line with national hiring trends, the industries with the biggest year-over-year hiring increases in March were financial services & insurance (20.9% higher); aerospace, automotive, and transportation (19.0% higher); and manufacturing and industrial (18.8% higher). Notably, hiring seems to be slowing in the professional services industry: after a strong run in 2017, seasonally-adjusted hiring fell in February 2018, stayed flat through March and was only up 9.9% year-over-year—much less than the national average.

Top destinations for grads looking to go green

Got environmental skills? This month we took a look at the hiring landscape for renewable and sustainable energy skills, ecology and environmental science skills, and green building and construction skills, to see which cities are best for a planet-loving professional.

Taking the trophy for “most improved” hiring markets are Greensboro-Winston-Salem, Salt Lake City, Las Vegas, and Nashville. These four cities are the fastest-growing green hubs, with hiring rates jumping the most spots in our rankings, on average, across these three environmental skill groups in the past two years. Salt Lake City, for example, has jumped 20 places for renewable and sustainable energy, 10 spots for ecology and environmental science, and 9 spots for green building and construction.

Table: We rank in-demand skills in 50 US cities, as measured by hiring frequency of people with those skills. As indicated by increased demand for renewable and sustainable energy skills, ecology and environmental science skills, and green building and construction skills, these four cities have seen the greatest growth in demand, relative to the other US cities we track.

The hottest hiring markets overall—where people with these same skills are most likely to get hired—are Raleigh-Durham, the San Francisco Bay Area, and Boston. So if you have environmental science skills and are looking for a job, these cities are a great place to start your search.

Or if you’re looking to join an existing, environmentally-minded community, look no further than Sacramento, Denver, and Portland: where people with environmental skills are more prevalent as a proportion of the local population than in any other city.

The misalignment between the skills people have (supply) and the skills employers need (demand) is a skills gap. Skills gaps are fundamentally local, and specific to the supply and demand of individual skills. There is an abundance, or surplus, of skills when supply exceeds demand. There is a scarcity, or shortage, of skills when demand exceeds supply. A city with a scarcity of skills needs more people with certain skills, while a city with an abundance of skills has too many people with certain skills.

Skills gaps can be narrowed by people moving to cities where their skills are in demand; by businesses opening up shop in cities where there’s an abundance of the skills they need; by training people to learn the skills that are in demand from employers; and by employers offering higher pay for in-demand skills. In order to narrow skills gaps, cities should seek to understand the dynamics of their own labor markets and create policies to align education and training with employer needs.

The U.S. cities with the largest skills gaps overall are the San Francisco Bay Area, Washington, D.C., and Austin. Each of these cities has a scarcity-driven skills gap, which means there is a high unfilled demand for workers with certain skill sets such as healthcare management, or education and teaching. To see which other skills are in scarcity, check out the San Francisco Bay Area, Washington, D.C., and Austin City Reports.

The San Francisco Bay Area, Austin, and Washington, D.C. have the greatest scarcity of skills, relative to other U.S. cities. For details on which skills are in high demand, check out their City Reports.

The cities with the greatest abundances of skills, relative to other U.S. cities, are West Palm Beach, Miami-Ft. Lauderdale, and Hartford.

Check out the City Reports for 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, 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.

Myth busted: San Franciscans aren’t actually fleeing to the Midwest

Despite its steep housing costs and long commutes, San Francisco is still a net attracter of talent: our data shows that the number of people moving to the San Francisco Bay Area continues to outweigh the number departing for greener (less expensive) pastures. And cities in the industrial heartland like Chicago, Pittsburgh, Detroit, Minneapolis, St. Louis, and Cleveland-Akron are still losing workers to the Bay Area.

The broader trend worth paying attention to, however, is that the number of people moving to San Francisco has dropped 41.7% since February 2017. At that time, 32.1 per 10,000 LinkedIn members in San Francisco had arrived in the past 12 months; today, only 18.7 per 10,000 LinkedIn members are recent arrivals.

San Francisco is losing talent to cities where large tech companies have established a growing presence and overall living costs are notably lower, such as Seattle (#1 destination for people leaving San Francisco), Denver (#4) and Austin (#5), as well as less expensive “commuter towns” further outside the Bay Area, like Sacramento (#3), Stockton (#10), Modesto (#11), Fresno (#13), and Salinas (#14).

How do other cities compare? Overall, the U.S. cities gaining the most people are Denver, Austin, and Seattle. For every 10,000 LinkedIn members in Denver, 71.6 arrived in the last 12 months.

The cities losing the most people are Hartford, Providence, and Pittsburgh. For every 10,000 LinkedIn members in Hartford, 60.6 left in the past 12 months.

Austin, Orange County, and San Diego are the U.S. cities experiencing the most total migration (workers moving into and out of a city). This list captures the most transient cities. For every 10,000 LinkedIn members in Austin, 586.0 arrived in or left the city in the last 12 months.

Check out the City Reports for 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, 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.