LinkedIn Workforce Report | United States | December 2018

Over 190 million workers in the U.S. have LinkedIn profiles; over 30,000 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 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 | U.S. hiring levels off in 2018 - After a long period of increased hiring, 2018 has shown a leveling off of hiring, particularly in the second half of the year. Gross hiring in the U.S. was 0.1% lower than in November 2017. Seasonally-adjusted national hiring (hiring that excludes seasonal hiring variations) was 0.8% lower in November from October 2018. The industries with the biggest year-over-year hiring increases in November were Wellness & Fitness (8.6% higher), Software & IT Services (7.8% higher), and Corporate Services (7.3% higher).

• Skills Gaps | Low unemployment leads to significant skills shortages - Since November 2017 the national U.S. labor market has experienced historically low unemployment rates, which translates to growing national skills shortages and shrinking national skills surpluses, making it more difficult for employers to find workers with the skills they need. Demand for Business Management, Oral Communication, Leadership, and Development Tools skills has increased significantly since November 2017. San Francisco, New York City and Los Angeles have the greatest shortages across all skills.

• Migration | Austin and Denver topple Seattle as cities attracting the most workers - Large coastal cities are no longer the biggest draws for talent as Austin, Denver, and Nashville topped the list of cities attracting the most workers in 2018 while Los Angeles and the San Francisco Bay Area didn’t crack the top 10. For every 10,000 LinkedIn members in Austin, 121 arrived in 2018. By comparison, only 80 per 10,000 arrived in Seattle over the past year despite having attracted the most workers in 2017.  Charlotte, Las Vegas, and Phoenix have also shown strong growth in 2018.

Hiring |

The LinkedIn hiring rate is a measure of gross hires divided by LinkedIn membership. Nationally, across all industries, gross hiring in the U.S. was 0.1% lower than in November 2017.

Seasonally-adjusted national hiring was steady, with a -0.8% change in November from October 2017.

The industries with the biggest year-over-year hiring increases in November were Wellness & Fitness (8.6% higher); Software & IT Services (7.8% higher); and Corporate Services (7.3% higher).

Table 1: Hiring on LinkedIn, by Industry, through November 2018

Skills Gaps |

(Note: We recently updated the skills gap methodology in the LinkedIn Workforce Report to include absolute headcounts to precisely measure skills gaps. To learn more about this updated methodology, see here.)

A skills gap is the gap between supply and demand for a specific skill, in a specific local labor market, at a specific point in time. That means that skills gaps are fundamentally local, and specific to the supply and demand of individual skills within a labor market. The U.S. cities with the largest skills gaps overall are New York City, NY; San Francisco Bay Area, CA; and Los Angeles, CA.

San Francisco Bay Area, CA; New York City, NY; and Los Angeles, CA also see the greatest shortages across all skills. To see which skills are driving these massive shortages, check out our localized reports.

The cities with the greatest surpluses across all skills are New York City, NY; Chicago, IL; and Philadelphia, PA.

Check out our localized 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 top skills in demand locally and other insights.

Migration |

The U.S. cities losing the most people are Wichita, KS; State College, PA; and Bryan-College Station, TX. For every 10,000 LinkedIn members in Wichita, KS, 289 left in the past 12 months.

The U.S. cities gaining the most people are Austin, TX; Denver, CO; and Nashville, TN. For every 10,000 LinkedIn members in Austin, TX, 122 arrived in the last 12 months.

Austin, TX; Denver, CO; and San Diego, CA 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, TX, 713 arrived in or left the city in the last 12 months.

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 skills are in shortage in those cities, and which jobs are open.