LinkedIn Workforce Report | United States | June 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
- May was the strongest month for hiring since June 2015 Hiring across the U.S. was 2.4% higher in May than May 2016. And seasonally-adjusted hiring (hiring that excludes seasonal hiring variations like companies hiring less in December due to the holiday season) was 6.2% higher in May than April. While 6.2% may not seem like a big increase, keep in mind that hiring has been very strong in 2017. The industries that experienced the biggest increase in hiring in May are architecture and engineering (up 21%), aerospace, automotive, and transportation (up 19%), manufacturing and industrial (up 19%), and financial services and insurance (up 16%).
- Fewer workers are moving to the San Francisco Bay Area The Bay Area is a talent magnet. But while it still gains more workers than it loses, the net number of workers moving to the region has decreased 17% since February, dropping the Bay Area from #10 to #12 on our list of cities that are gaining the most workers. In comparison, Seattle has seen net migration increase by 2% over the same period. What's to blame? Cities like Seattle, Portland, Denver, Austin, and Charlotte are booming and they're cheaper to live in.
- Healthcare skills are needed in every major U.S. city except for Philadelphia, Cleveland, and St. Louis Healthcare skills like clinical data analysis, pharmaceutics and urgent care are in scarcity in most major cities in the U.S. But Philadelphia, Cleveland and St. Louis have an abundance of workers with these sought-after skills. Since many medical students are graduating this month, we identified which cities need their skills most. Healthcare management skills - like medical billing and administration - are needed in Atlanta, Austin, Boston, Chicago, Dallas, Denver, Los Angeles, New York City, San Francisco, Seattle, and Washington, D.C. Pharmaceutical skills - like pharmaceutical sales and pharmaceutics - are needed in Phoenix. And nursing skills - like patient care and infection control - are in scarcity in Austin, Denver, Los Angeles, San Francisco, and Washington, D.C.! So if you just graduated and have healthcare skills, check out LinkedIn Jobs to explore opportunities in these cities.
May was the strongest month for hiring since June 2015
Hiring is on a roll. Hiring across the U.S. was 2.4% higher in May than May 2016.
And seasonally-adjusted hiring (hiring that excludes seasonal hiring variations like companies hiring less in December due to the holiday season) was 6.2% higher in May than April. While 6.2% may not seem like a big increase, keep in mind that hiring has been very strong in 2017.
Industry Hiring
The industries that experienced the biggest increase in hiring in May are the architecture and engineering (up 21%), aerospace, automotive, and transportation (up 19%), manufacturing and industrial (up 19%), and financial services and insurance (up 16%) industries.
Fewer workers are moving to the San Francisco Bay Area
The Bay Area is a talent magnet. But while it still gains more workers than it loses, the net number of workers moving to the region has decreased 17% since February, dropping the Bay Area from #10 to #12 on our list of cities that are gaining the most workers. In comparison, Seattle has seen net migration increase by 2% over the same period. What's to blame? As you can see in the graph below, workers are flocking to cities like Seattle, Portland, Denver, Austin and Charlotte because they have lots of jobs and a reasonable cost of living.
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.
Healthcare skills are needed in every major U.S. city except for Philadelphia, Cleveland, and St. Louis
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.
Healthcare skills - like clinical data analysis, pharmaceutics and urgent care - are in scarcity in most major cities in the U.S. But Philadelphia, Cleveland and St. Louis have an abundance of workers with these sought-after skills. That's likely in part because they're home to major medical schools and hospitals.
Lots of medical students are graduating this month, so we identified which cities need their skills. Healthcare management skills - like medical billing and appointment scheduling - are needed in Atlanta, Austin, Boston, Chicago, Dallas, Denver, Los Angeles, New York City, San Francisco, Seattle, and Washington, D.C. Pharmaceutical skills - like pharmaceutical sales and pharmaceutics - are needed in Phoenix. And nursing skills - like patient care and infection control - are in scarcity in Austin, Denver, Los Angeles, San Francisco, and Washington, D.C. So if you just graduated and have healthcare skills, check out LinkedIn Jobs to explore opportunities in these cities.
The San Francisco Bay Area, Austin, and Washington, D.C. continue to have the greatest scarcity of skills. For details on which skills are in high demand, check out their City Reports.
The cities with the greatest abundance of skills continue to be West Palm Beach, Miami-Ft. Lauderdale, and Houston.
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.
