LinkedIn Workforce Report | United States | April 2024

Published on Apr 16, 2024

With over 214 million LinkedIn members in the United States, we have unique insight into the real-time dynamics of Americans starting new jobs and moving to new cities. This month’s LinkedIn Workforce Report looks at our latest national data on hiring and migration trends through March 2024.

For more insight into localized employment trends in 20 of the largest U.S. metro areas, check out this month’s 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.

Our vision is to create economic opportunity for every member of the global workforce. Whether you’re a worker, an employer, a new grad, or a policymaker, we hope you’ll use these insights to better understand and navigate the dynamics of today’s economy.

Key Insights

Hiring was down in March, but declines were among lowest since September 2022: Nationally, across all industries, hiring slowed 2.1% in March compared to February. Compared to March of last year, hiring is down -10.2% – the second smallest year-over-year decrease we have seen since September 2022. After an extended slowdown and some modest cooling at the start of the year, the pace of hiring continues to return to its usual month-to-month fluctuations, having already leveled out in the tech sector.
Hiring gains were observed across several industries, with notable stabilization in Tech: Hiring increased in 6 of 20 industries in March with much more narrow acceleration compared to February gains. The industries with the strongest acceleration in hiring month-to-month in March were Utilities (+8.1%); Wholesale (+2.6%); and Accommodation and Food Services (+1.4%). Hiring decelerated the most month-to-month in Holding Companies (-9.4%), Education (-2.0%), and Consumer Services (-1.9%). Technology, Information, and Media continues to exhibit signs of hiring stabilization despite a slight decrease in March hiring (-0.9%). This industry also now has the second smallest year-over-year decline compared to March 2023 (-3.8%), second only to Construction (-1.5%). While hiring in Technology, Information, and Media remains much slower than previous years, the worst of the slowdown appears to be over.

Narrow hiring gains were observed across metros, with stabilization in the SF Bay Area driven by tech: Hiring increased in 3 of the 20 metro areas we track from February to March: Cleveland-Akron (+6.4%), Atlanta (+4.7%); and Houston (+4.4%). Seattle (-2.8%), Minneapolis-St. Paul (-3.7%), and Denver (-5.9%) had the weakest month-over-month changes in hiring. While hiring remained down in all metros we track compared to one year prior, the San Francisco Bay Area (-1.0%) had the smallest year-over-year decline in hiring comparing March 2024 to March 2023, again signaling that the worst of the slowdown in tech is over, which is prominent in the San Francisco Bay Area.

Hiring

The LinkedIn hiring rate is a measure of hires divided by LinkedIn membership. Nationally, across all industries, hiring in the U.S. was 2.1% lower in March 2024 compared to last month February 2024. National hiring was 10.2% lower in March 2024 compared to last year March 2023.

The industries with the most notable hiring shifts month-to-month in March 2024 were Utilities (8.8% higher); Wholesale (2.6% higher); and Accommodation and Food Services (1.4% higher).

Table 1: Hiring on LinkedIn, by Industry, through March 2024

Industry	Mar-23	···	Dec-23	Jan-24	Feb-24	Mar-24	MoM% Change	YoY% Change
Accommodation and Food Services	1.02	···	1.01	0.92	0.96	0.98	+1.4	-4.6
Administrative and Support Services	1.00	···	0.98	0.81	0.91	0.91	-0.3	-9.8
Construction	1.20	···	1.24	1.18	1.17	1.18	+0.9	-1.5
Consumer Services	1.20	···	1.20	1.11	1.17	1.15	-1.9	-4.2
Education	1.25	···	1.16	1.14	1.15	1.12	-2.1	-10.3
Entertainment Providers	0.99	···	0.93	0.94	0.93	0.92	-1.4	-7.5
Farming, Ranching, Forestry	1.24	···	1.11	1.06	1.08	1.09	+0.8	-12.5
Financial Services	1.12	···	0.98	0.96	0.99	0.97	-1.6	-13.2
Government Administration	1.23	···	1.15	1.09	1.12	1.11	-1.2	-9.5
Holding Companies	0.90	···	0.78	0.80	0.78	0.71	-9.6	-21.7
Hospitals and Health Care	1.24	···	1.13	1.10	1.12	1.12	-0.4	-10.3
Manufacturing	1.03	···	0.97	0.87	0.90	0.88	-1.7	-14.3
Oil, Gas, and Mining	1.13	···	0.93	0.88	0.89	0.87	-1.9	-23.1
Professional Services	1.00	···	0.91	0.89	0.90	0.89	-0.8	-10.6
Real Estate and Equipment Rental Services	1.07	···	1.01	0.94	0.95	0.97	+1.4	-9.9
Retail	0.91	···	0.90	0.81	0.86	0.85	-0.8	-6.3
Technology, Information and Media	0.89	···	0.86	0.82	0.87	0.86	-0.9	-3.8
Transportation, Logistics, Supply Chain and Storage	1.20	···	1.04	1.03	1.02	1.00	-1.6	-16.5
Utilities	1.49	···	1.21	1.14	1.12	1.22	+8.8	-18.1
Wholesale	0.97	···	0.95	0.82	0.83	0.85	+2.6	-12.1

Methodology: “Hiring Rate” is the count of hires (LinkedIn members in each industry who added a new employer to their profile in the same month the new job began), divided by the total number of LinkedIn members in the U.S. By only analyzing the timeliest data, we can make accurate month-to-month comparisons and account for any potential lags in members updating their profiles. This number is indexed to the average month in 2016 for each industry; for example, an index of 1.05 indicates a hiring rate that is 5% higher than the average month in 2016.

Check out our 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 jobs are open.