LinkedIn Workforce Report | United States | March 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. 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 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
February hiring remains strong after January’s spike – In February, hiring across the U.S. was 20.1% higher than in February 2017. Seasonally-adjusted hiring was 8.5% lower in February than in January 2018, indicating that January’s spike in hiring was probably a one-off. That said, February’s decline merely brought hiring flows back into line with their elevated level during the second half of 2017. The industries with the biggest year-over-year hiring increase in February were aerospace, automotive, and transportation (24.4% higher); architecture and engineering (19.4% higher); and financial services and insurance (18.8% higher). The recovery in oil and energy hiring is moderating. While hiring in the oil and energy industry is up 8% relative to a year ago, it may be that the sector’s employers feel relatively “caught up” to the recent increase in crude oil prices.
Banks are hiring, but it’s not only where you’d expect – With the stock market reaching historic heights over the past year, we wanted to see whether there were any related trends in the jobs market for trading and investment skills. Unsurprisingly, New York City, Chicago, and Los Angeles—the country’s biggest cities and financial centers—take the lead for most people hired with trading and investment, risk management, and financial planning skills. But in terms of growth, the cities with the fastest-growing hiring markets for the same skills are Kansas City, Salt Lake City, Raleigh-Durham, San Antonio, and Austin. In fact, Kansas City saw the biggest relative spike in hiring for these financial skills of any city in the U.S. Regional banks and asset managers, as well as regional outposts of national banks, are driving hiring growth in these mid-sized Midwestern and Southeastern cities.
Growing cities need teachers – When a city’s economy booms and attracts new residents, it creates a corresponding demand for teachers to educate the growing community. In fast-growing cities like Las Vegas, Orlando, Phoenix, Raleigh-Durham, and San Antonio, which are expanding rapidly from migration inflows, demand for teachers is growing quickly—and supply is, too. In cities with net migration outflows, like Cincinnati, Hartford, and Milwaukee, both supply and demand growth for teachers are notably weak. In Oklahoma City, where low pay for teachers has been a hot-button issue in recent years, demand for teachers is starting to pick up. Among the cities we track, there are a number of hot markets for teachers—and some aren’t far from Oklahoma City. Denver is #6 in highest demand for teaching and education skills, followed closely by Austin (#7), Raleigh-Durham (#8), and Minneapolis-St. Paul (#9). The U.S. cities with the highest demand for teaching and education skills overall are the booming cities of San Francisco, Washington, D.C., Boston, New York City, and Seattle. The supply of teachers in these cities is low relative to demand, potentially due to the high cost of living.
February hiring remains strong after January’s spike
In February, hiring across the U.S. was 20.1% higher than in February 2017.
Seasonally-adjusted hiring was 8.5% lower in February than in January 2018, indicating that January’s spike in hiring was probably a one-off. That said, February’s decline merely brought hiring flows back into line with their elevated level during the second half of 2017.
Industry Hiring
The industries with the biggest year-over-year hiring increase in February were aerospace, automotive, and transportation (24.4% higher); architecture and engineering (19.4% higher); and financial services and insurance (18.8% higher). The recovery in oil and energy hiring is moderating. While hiring in the oil and energy industry is up 8% relative to a year ago, it may be that the sector’s employers feel relatively “caught up” to the recent increase in crude oil prices.
Banks are hiring, and it’s not only where you’d expect
With the stock market reaching historic heights over the past year, we wanted to see whether there were any related trends in the jobs market for trading and investment skills. Unsurprisingly, New York City, Chicago, and Los Angeles—the country’s biggest cities and financial centers—take the lead for most people hired with trading and investment, risk management, and financial planning skills.
But in terms of growth, the cities with the fastest-growing hiring markets for the same skills are Kansas City, Salt Lake City, Raleigh-Durham, San Antonio, and Austin. In fact, Kansas City is the #1 fastest-growing U.S. city for hiring of both trading and investment skills and risk management skills. Regional banks, as well as regional outposts of national banks, are driving hiring growth in these mid-sized Midwestern and Southeastern cities.
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 the 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.
Growing cities need teachers
When a city’s economy booms and attracts new residents, it creates a corresponding demand for teachers to educate the growing community. In fast-growing cities like Las Vegas, Orlando, Phoenix, Raleigh-Durham, and San Antonio, which are expanding rapidly from migration inflows, demand for teachers is growing quickly—and supply is, too. Las Vegas, for instance, is #4 on our list of cities gaining the most workers over the past year. In cities with net migration outflows, like Cincinnati, Hartford, and Milwaukee, both supply and demand growth for teachers are notably weak. There is a strong correlation between economic growth and growth in demand for teachers.
In Oklahoma City, where low pay for teachers has been a hot-button issue in recent years, demand for teachers is starting to pick up. A year ago, the hiring market for teachers was effectively stagnant, with the lowest hiring frequency for teachers among the 50 largest U.S. cities. Since then, Oklahoma City has improved very slightly, from #50 to #48.
For teachers in Oklahoma City considering a move, the good news for is that, among the cities we track, there are a number of hot markets for teachers—and some aren’t far from Oklahoma City. Denver is #6 in highest demand for teaching and education skills, followed closely by Austin (#7), Raleigh-Durham (#8), and Minneapolis-St. Paul (#9). There are other cities with large shortages of teaching skills further afield, albeit in more expensive coastal cities, as well as in cities nearby with more neutral hiring markets for teachers, including Indianapolis (#14) and Nashville (#15).
The U.S. cities with the highest demand for teaching and education skills overall are San Francisco, Washington, D.C., Boston, New York City, and Seattle. These cities have large populations, booming economies, and relatively high costs of living. Demand for teaching and education skills in these cities is high, but not growing much; high costs of living in these cities likely keep the supply of teachers low.
Net inward migration is a strong indicator of economic growth and of economic opportunities— and the U.S. cities gaining the most people overall are Denver, Austin, and Seattle. For every 10,000 LinkedIn members in Denver, 66.5 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, 56.2 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.
