LinkedIn Workforce Report | United States | July 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. That gives us unique and valuable insight into U.S. workforce trends.

The 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 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

• Hiring this summer is red hot – Hiring across the U.S. was 12.1% higher in June than in June 2016. Seasonally-adjusted hiring (hiring that excludes seasonal hiring variations – like companies hiring less in December due to the holiday season) was 9.4% lower in June than in May. Despite this, May and June were the two strongest months for hiring in the U.S. since the summer of 2015. The industries that experienced the biggest year-over-year increase in hiring in June are oil and energy (39.6% higher), manufacturing and industrial (20.3% higher), and aerospace, automotive, and transportation (16.3% higher).
  
  
• A "retail apocalypse"? Not in some cities – While there has been a lot of talk recently about the record number of retail store closures this year and about 90,000 workers in the industry losing their jobs, there is still a high scarcity of workers with retail store operations and management skills in San Francisco, Washington, D.C., New York City, Austin, and Denver. These skills range from cashiering and retail sales, to visual merchandising, inventory management, and planograms, to new store development. High-end and mass retailers alike are hiring for retail store operations and management skills in these cities. Brick and mortar retailers may do better in large cities than small cities because they have residents with higher disposable incomes and more luxury and brand name stores that invest in creating unique new customer experiences that keep people coming back for more.
  
  
• As workers leave cities, unemployment drops – Many of the cities that have lost the most workers over the last 12 months have unemployment rates that are above the national average, but coming down. Detroit is a great example: when its unemployment rate reached 17% during the Great Recession, many Detroiters left the city, causing a sharp decline in its unemployment rate. These days, fewer workers are leaving Detroit and the city's labor market is the tightest it's been in over 16 years. Other cities that are losing lots of workers, like Chicago and Memphis, may soon hit similar tipping points in terms of having lower unemployment rates. But if they don't stem their loss of workers, employers in these cities may soon have another problem: filling jobs. For cities with high migration outflows coupled with high, but dropping, unemployment rates, departing workers can be a double-edged sword.

Hiring this summer is red hot

Hiring across the U.S. was 12.1% higher in June than June 2016.

Seasonally-adjusted hiring (hiring that excludes seasonal hiring variations – like companies hiring less in December due to the holiday season) was 9.4% lower in June than in May. Despite this, May and June were the two strongest months for hiring in the U.S. since the summer of 2015.

Industry Hiring

The industries that experienced the biggest year-over-year increase in hiring in June are oil and energy (39.6% higher), manufacturing and industrial (20.3% higher), and aerospace, automotive, and transportation (16.3% higher).

A "retail apocalypse"? Not in some 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.

There is a scarcity of workers with retail store operations and management skills in San Francisco, Washington, D.C., New York City, Austin, and Denver. These in-demand skills range from cashiering and retail sales, to visual merchandising, inventory management, and planograms, to new store development. High-end and mass retailers alike are hiring for retail store operations and management skills in these cities.

Why do these cities have such high demand for retail workers? Brick and mortar retailers may do better in large cities than small cities because they have residents with higher disposable incomes and more luxury and brand name stores that invest in creating unique new customer experiences that keep people coming back for more.

The San Francisco Bay Area, Austin, and 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. Houston dropped from #3 to #4 on the list over the past month.

Check out the City Reports for Atlanta, Austin, Boston, Chicago, Cleveland-Akron, Dallas, 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. to see which skills are most scarce in those cities, and which jobs are open.

As workers leave cities, unemployment drops

The U.S. cities gaining the most workers are Seattle, Denver, and Austin. For every 10,000 LinkedIn members in Seattle, 67.6 arrived in the last 12 months.

In contrast, Hartford, Norfolk, and Providence are losing the most workers. For every 10,000 LinkedIn members in Norfolk, 55.1 left the city in the last 12 months.

Many of the cities that have lost the most workers over the last 12 months have unemployment rates above the national average, like Hartford (#1), Providence (#3), Chicago (#5), Baltimore (#8), Milwaukee (#9), and Memphis (#10). In some ways, departing workers can be good for cities with high unemployment because it helps brings down the unemployment rate.

Detroit is a great example: when its unemployment rate reached 17% during the Great Recession, many Detroiters left the city, causing a sharp decline in its unemployment rate. These days, fewer workers are leaving Detroit and the city's labor market is the tightest it's been in over 16 years.

Other cities that are losing lots of workers, like Chicago and Memphis, may soon hit a similar tipping point in terms of a having lower unemployment rates. But if they don't stem their loss of workers in the meantime, employers in these cities may soon have another problem: filling jobs.

For cities with high migration outflows coupled with high, but dropping, unemployment, workers leaving cities can be a double-edged sword.

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, 569.5 arrived in or left the city in the last 12 months.