LinkedIn Workforce Report | United States | February 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. 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 through December 2017. 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
2018 is off to an incredibly strong start for hiring – In January, hiring across the U.S. was 13.0% higher than in January 2017. Seasonally-adjusted hiring was 10.9% higher in January than in December 2017—making January 2018 the strongest month for hiring since May 2017. While it is too early to tell if this hiring spike is attributed to increased confidence from the new tax bill, the industries with the biggest year-over-year hiring increase in January were manufacturing and industrial (15.5% higher); aerospace, automotive, and transportation (13.2% higher); and financial services and insurance (12.5% higher).
Accountants benefit most from the new tax bill – While hiring for accountants has been low compared to the national average in the past year, up only 7.7% compared to 13.0% nationally, demand for accountants has risen significantly in the past month. Seasonally-adjusted hiring for accountants in January was up 16.3% from December, compared to 10.9% nationally. This spike is likely attributable to the new tax bill, as the rise in demand goes beyond what is expected for the start of tax season alone. The cities with highest demand for accounting skills are Austin, Seattle, Norfolk, Raleigh-Durham, and San Francisco. The hiring of accountants across industries is sporadic—from being up 21.5% in the aerospace, automotive, and transportation industry to being down 26.4% in the technology hardware industry. Cities with the largest supply of accounting skills are Houston, Miami-Ft. Lauderdale, New York City, Atlanta, or Cleveland-Akron.
- More and more people are betting on Las Vegas – Since February 2017, Las Vegas has risen from #9 to #4 on our list of cities gaining the most workers. This growth in people moving to Las Vegas represents a 44% increase compared to a year ago. So what’s driving this rapid expansion? The local economy is growing fast, the cost of living is relatively low, and, of course, Nevada has no state income tax. The skills with the most increased demand are software modeling and process design, farm and agriculture, immigration law, electronic and electrical engineering, and pet care and services. This diverse range of in-demand skills reflects the maturation of Las Vegas’ economy beyond the entertainment and hospitality industries.
2018 is off to an incredibly strong start for hiring
In January, hiring across the U.S. was 13.0% higher than in January 2016.
Seasonally-adjusted hiring (hiring that excludes seasonal hiring variations—like companies hiring less in December due to the holiday season) was 10.9% higher in January than in December 2017—making January 2018 the strongest month for hiring since May 2017. It is too early to tell if this hiring spike is attributed to increased confidence from the new tax bill.
Industry Hiring
The industries that experienced the biggest year-over-year hiring increase in January were manufacturing and industrial (15.5% higher); aerospace, automotive, and transportation (13.2% higher); and financial services and insurance (12.5% higher).
Accountants benefit most from the new tax bill
While hiring for accountants has been low compared to the national average in the past year, up only 7.7% compared to 13.0% nationally, demand for accountants has risen significantly in the past month. Seasonally-adjusted hiring for accountants in January was up 16.3% from December, compared to 10.9% nationally. This spike is likely attributable to the new tax bill, as the rise in demand goes beyond what is expected for the start of tax season alone.
The cities with highest demand for accounting skills are Austin, Seattle, Norfolk, Raleigh-Durham, and San Francisco. The hiring of accountants across industries is sporadic—from being up 21.5% in the aerospace, automotive, and transportation industry to being down 26.4% in the technology hardware industry.
| Industry | Change in hiring for accountants, from Jan 2017 to Jan 2018 | Change in hiring overall, from Jan 2017 to Jan 2018 | Delta |
| Technology - Hardware | -26.4% | +4.1% | -30.5% |
| Telecommunications | -19.1% | +5.4% | -24.5% |
| Technology - Software | -1.6% | +6.4% | -8.0% |
| Professional Services | -1.5% | +9.1% | -10.6% |
| Retail and Consumer Products | -0.9% | +5.5% | -6.4% |
| Government, Education, and Nonprofit | +3.6% | +1.0% | +2.6% |
| Financial Services | +7.7% | +12.5% | -4.8% |
| Media and Entertainment | +10.7% | +2.0% | +8.7% |
| Architecture and Engineering | +11.9% | +10.9% | +1.0% |
| Oil and Energy | +12.8% | +5.5% | +7.3% |
| Healthcare and Pharmaceuticals | +12.9% | +6.2% | +6.7% |
| Manufacturing and Industrial | +14.1% | +15.5% | -1.4% |
| Aerospace, Automotive, and Transportation | +21.5% | +12.3% | +9.5% |
If you need an accountant in time for tax season, look to the cities with the largest supply of accounting skills: Houston, Miami-Ft. Lauderdale, New York City, Atlanta, or Cleveland-Akron.
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 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.
More and more people are betting on Las Vegas
Since February 2017, Las Vegas has risen from #9 to #4 on our list of cities gaining the most workers. For every 10,000 LinkedIn members in Las Vegas today, 49.5 arrived in the past 12 months. This growth in people moving to Las Vegas represents a 44% increase compared to a year ago, when only 34.4 per 10,000 LinkedIn members were new in town.
So what’s driving this rapid expansion? The local economy is growing fast, the weather is sunny, the cost of living is relatively low, and, of course, Nevada has no state income tax. The skills we’re seeing the most increased demand for are software modeling and process design, farm and agriculture, immigration law, electronic and electrical engineering, and pet care and services. This diverse range of in-demand skills reflects the maturation of Las Vegas’ economy beyond the entertainment and hospitality industries.
The skills that have increased the most in supply are software code debugging, cloud and distributed computing, data presentation, scripting languages, and middleware and integration software. Though these skills are all technical, it’s not just the tech industry that’s hiring: airlines, IT companies, data centers, universities, and casinos alike are all hiring for technical talent in Las Vegas.
Ahead of Las Vegas, the U.S. cities gaining the most people are Denver, Seattle, and Austin. For every 10,000 LinkedIn members in Denver, 65.6 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, 55.7 left in the past 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.
