LinkedIn Workforce Report | United States | July 2021

Published on Jul 1, 2021

Over 176 million workers in the U.S. have LinkedIn profiles; over 97,000 companies in the U.S. use LinkedIn to recruit and members can add over 38,000 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 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

June hiring is up, but gains smaller than May: Across all industries, national hiring in the U.S. was 3.7% higher in June 2021 compared to last month. This is certainly a step in the right direction, but slower than May’s 7.7% gain. National hiring this June was 67.8% higher compared to June 2020.
Hiring up from pre-pandemic levels: Hiring in June was also 9.0% above pre-COVID levels from February 2020. This is highly consistent with the ongoing “great reshuffle" hypothesis that people are switching and leaving jobs at an increased rate. While a promising sign, this does not equate to a full recovery in the labor market because millions of Americans remain unemployed. The good news is that we’re gradually adding people back into the workforce.
Largest industry gains seen in Construction, Finance, Manufacturing: We’ve seen hiring in 17 of our 24 industries overall exceed its pre-COVID hiring levels. This is the broadest cross-industry recovery we’ve seen to date since the pandemic started. The industries with the most notable hiring shifts month-to-month in June were Construction (19% higher); Finance (16.8% higher); and Manufacturing (16.1% higher).
Largest hiring gains seen in Cleveland, Houston, Austin: On a similarly positive note, hiring in 14 of the 20 metros that we track regularly has exceeded its pre-COVID levels. The cities with the most notable hiring shifts month-to-month in June were Cleveland-Akron (16.8% higher); Houston (14.4% higher); and Austin (11.9% higher).

Hiring

The LinkedIn hiring rate is a measure of hires divided by LinkedIn membership. Nationally, across all industries, hiring in the U.S. was 3.7% higher in June compared to last month May 2021. National hiring was 67.8% higher in June compared to last year June 2020.

The industries with the most notable hiring shifts month-to-month in June were Construction (19% higher); Finance (16.8% higher); and Manufacturing (16.1% higher).

Table 1: Hiring on LinkedIn, by Industry, through June 2021

Industry	Jun-20	···	Mar-21	Apr-21	May-21	Jun-21	MoM% Change	YoY% Change
Agriculture	1.10	···	1.32	1.22	1.18	1.23	+4	+11.7
Arts	0.50	···	0.69	0.65	0.66	0.72	+8	+43
Construction	0.96	···	1.24	1.11	1.09	1.29	+19	+34
Consumer Goods	0.78	···	1.04	1.03	1.15	1.24	+7.3	+58.7
Corporate Services	0.62	···	1.29	1.22	1.18	1.25	+6	+101.9
Design	0.65	···	0.93	0.92	0.95	1.04	+9.6	+60.3
Education	0.79	···	1.17	1.13	1.10	1.14	+3.9	+44
Energy & Mining	0.89	···	0.98	0.90	0.94	1.03	+9.4	+16.1
Entertainment	0.50	···	0.93	0.99	1.02	1.08	+5.6	+113.5
Finance	0.74	···	1.28	1.23	1.13	1.32	+16.8	+77.5
Hardware & Networking	0.91	···	0.96	0.91	0.92	0.95	+2.7	+3.3
Health Care	0.87	···	1.30	1.24	1.25	1.41	+13.1	+63.1
Legal	0.99	···	1.07	1.02	1.03	1.04	+1.3	+4.8
Manufacturing	0.93	···	1.16	1.12	1.05	1.22	+16.1	+31.1
Media & Communications	0.53	···	1.08	1.09	1.05	1.12	+6.4	+110.9
Nonprofit	0.82	···	1.10	1.08	1.09	1.11	+1.8	+34.2
Public Administration	1.01	···	1.16	1.09	1.05	1.10	+4.6	+8.2
Public Safety	0.99	···	1.11	1.10	1.05	1.12	+6.2	+12.9
Real Estate	0.87	···	1.29	1.28	1.28	1.41	+10.5	+62.2
Recreation & Travel	0.62	···	0.90	1.11	1.10	1.14	+4.2	+85
Retail	0.56	···	1.09	1.14	1.15	1.16	+0.6	+108
Software & IT Services	0.89	···	1.34	1.36	1.32	1.44	+8.9	+62.3
Transportation & Logistics	0.74	···	1.33	1.29	1.37	1.53	+11.8	+105.8
Wellness & Fitness	1.02	···	1.34	1.26	1.30	1.40	+7.9	+37.4

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.

Migration

The U.S. cities losing the most people are College Station-Bryan, TX; State College-DuBois, PA; and Lafayette, IN. For every 10,000 LinkedIn members in College Station-Bryan, TX, 232 left in the past 12 months.

The U.S. cities gaining the most people are Austin, TX; North Port-Sarasota, FL; and Nashville, TN. For every 10,000 LinkedIn members in Austin, TX, 121 arrived 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 jobs are open.