LinkedIn Workforce Report | United States | August 2017
Over 138 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. This gives us unique insights into U.S. workforce trends.
The LinkedIn Workforce Report is a monthly report on employment trends in the U.S. workforce, and this month’s report looks at our latest data from July 2017. It’s divided into two sections: a National section that provides insights into hiring, skills gaps, and migration trends across the United States, 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
- This summer’s hiring streak continues into July – Hiring across the U.S. was 17.3% higher this July versus July 2016. Seasonally-adjusted hiring (hiring that excludes seasonal hiring variations – like companies hiring less in December due to the holiday season) was 5.4% lower in July than in June this year. While July’s month-over-month dip in seasonally-adjusted hiring could indicate that this summer’s hiring streak is starting to slow down, July hiring should still be read as strong. The industries that experienced the biggest year-over-year increase in hiring in July are oil and energy (27.8% higher), manufacturing and industrial (16.8% higher), and architecture and engineering (15.5% higher).
- Since January ‘17, demand is up for mental health professionals in big cities – In San Francisco, New York City, Los Angeles, Chicago, Dallas-Ft. Worth, and Houston, employer demand for mental health and psychotherapy skills has risen since the beginning of the year. Mental health and psychotherapy skills range from neuropsychology and grief counseling, to cognitive behavioral therapy and crisis intervention. In the biggest U.S. cities, employers hiring for these skills include hospitals, private practices, and local governments. In contrast, many other specialty medical skills – including OB/GYN, surgery, and cardiology skills – have seen a slight cooling in hiring demand since January, relative to the rest of the U.S. These specialty skills tend to be hired for by healthcare provider networks, hospitals, and medical device manufacturers.
- New Yorkers, it’s true: all your friends are moving to LA – New York is Los Angeles’ single biggest source of talent, and Los Angeles is New York’s biggest brain drain destination: last year, New Yorkers moved to LA in greater droves than to any other city. The number of workers coming from the New York was more than double the number coming from Chicago, the next city on the list. It makes sense: New York and Los Angeles have a lot in common, including an abundance of theatre & drama, fashion, and graphic design skills. In terms of total migration (migration gains + losses), LA and NYC are each #3 on the other’s list – which means Angelenos love moving to the Big Apple, too.
This summer’s hiring streak continues into July
Hiring across the U.S. was 17.3% higher in July than July 2016.
Seasonally-adjusted hiring (hiring that excludes seasonal hiring variations – like companies hiring less in December due to the holiday season) was 5.4% lower in July than in June this year. After this May and June, the two strongest months for hiring in the U.S. since the summer of 2015, July’s month-over-month dip in seasonally-adjusted hiring indicates that the national hiring rate may be starting to normalize.
Industry Hiring
The industries that experienced the biggest year-over-year increase in hiring in July are oil and energy (27.8% higher), manufacturing and industrial (16.8% higher), and architecture and engineering (15.5% higher).
Since January ‘17, demand is up for mental health professionals in big cities
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.
In San Francisco, New York, Los Angeles, Chicago, Dallas-Ft. Worth, and Houston, many specialty medical skills - including OB/GYN, surgery, and cardiology skills – have seen a slight cooling in hiring demand since the beginning of the year relative to the rest of the U.S. In cities where these skills are already abundant, they are becoming more abundant – and in cities where these skills are scarce, they are becoming less scarce. The employers that hire for these specialty medical skills include hospitals, networks of healthcare providers, and healthcare device manufacturers. Is uncertainty in the future of U.S. healthcare causing this drop off in urban hiring?
A notable exception to the trend is mental health and psychotherapy skills, which have risen in demand in these same cities since January. Mental health and psychotherapy skills range from neuropsychology to grief counseling, and from cognitive behavioral therapy to crisis intervention. As mental health issues have become more widely discussed, it’s possible that greater awareness has encouraged more people to seek help – and created more jobs for medical professionals skilled in providing mental health-related care.
The San Francisco Bay Area, Austin, Washington, D.C.continue to have the greatest scarcity of skills. For details on precisely which skills are in high demand, check out their City Reports.
The cities with the greatest abundance of skills are West Palm Beach, Miami-Ft. Lauderdale, and Hartford.
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.
In contrast, Hartford, Norfolk, and Providence are losing the most workers. For every 10,000 LinkedIn members in Hartford, 54.7 left the city in the last 12 months.
Austin, Orange County, and San Diego remained atop the list of 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 , 562.9 arrived in or left the city in the last 12 months.
This month, we took a look specifically at the migration between New York and Los Angeles. New Yorkers love Los Angeles! New York is Los Angeles’ single biggest source of talent, and Los Angeles is New York’s biggest brain drain destination. Of people leaving New York in the past year, more went to Los Angeles than to any other city. And of all people moving to Los Angeles, more came from New York than from any other city. For every 10,000 LinkedIn members in Los Angeles, 7.3 moved from New York in the past 12 months. In comparison, only 2.8 people moved to LA from Chicago, #2 on the LA’s list of migration gains.
It makes sense: though they have divergent climates, New York and Los Angeles share a lot in common, including an abundance of theatre & drama, fashion, and graphic design skills, and a scarcity of sales, healthcare management, and education skills. In terms of total migration (migration gains + losses), LA and NYC are each #3 on the other’s list – which means Angelenos love moving to the Big Apple, too.
To learn more, 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.. And for more trends and analysis, check out last month’s National Report.
