Over 155 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 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

• U.S. Hiring Continues to Soften | Nationally, across all industries, gross hiring in the U.S. was 2.9% lower than in February 2018. Seasonally-adjusted national hiring was 0.9% lower in February from January 2019. The industries with the most notable hiring shifts in February were Public Safety (6.4% higher); Software & IT Services (4.6% higher); and Corporate Services (4% higher). This softening is consistent with a trend we’ve seen over the past two months in our data and government data, which suggests we may expect to see weaker hiring numbers in the months ahead.

• Evolving Nature of Work | As routine cognitive jobs (“repetitive desk jobs”) are declining (4% lower from 2015 to 2018), workers without college degrees are increasingly shifting to non-routine manual jobs (3% higher). However, we shouldn’t misinterpret this as workers with no college degrees are losing their jobs and are unemployed; they, too, have benefited from a tighter labor market and accelerating pay growth. Given that people with college degrees are increasing over time, it makes sense that abstract analytical jobs (7% higher) - including roles like business analyst or business consultant - are increasing in employment share. Interestingly, non-routine manual jobs - such as drivers and electrician  - are increasing in employment share as well, and these jobs may not require college degrees. Where we’re seeing a real decline is routine cognitive jobs, like phone operator or ticket agent.

Hiring

The LinkedIn hiring rate is a measure of gross hires divided by LinkedIn membership. Nationally, across all industries, gross hiring in the U.S. was 2.9% lower than in February 2018.

Seasonally-adjusted national hiring was 0.9% lower in February from January 2019.

The industries with the most notable hiring shifts in February were Public Safety (6.4% higher); Software & IT Services (4.6% higher); and Corporate Services (4% higher).

Table 1: Hiring on LinkedIn, by Industry, through February 2019

Skills Gaps

(Note: We recently updated the skills gap methodology in the LinkedIn Workforce Report to include absolute headcounts to precisely measure skills gaps. To learn more about this updated methodology, see here.)

A skills gap is the gap between supply and demand for a specific skill, in a specific local labor market, at a specific point in time. That means that skills gaps are fundamentally local, and specific to the supply and demand of individual skills within a labor market. The U.S. cities with the largest skills gaps overall are New York City, NY; San Francisco Bay Area, CA; and Los Angeles, CA.

San Francisco Bay Area, CA; New York City, NY; and Los Angeles, CA also see the greatest shortages across all skills. To see which skills are driving these massive shortages, check out our localized reports.

The cities with the greatest surpluses across all skills are New York City, NY; Chicago, IL; and Philadelphia, PA.

Check out our localized 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 top skills in demand locally and other insights.

Migration

The U.S. cities losing the most people are Wichita, KS; Bryan-College Station, TX; and State College, PA. For every 10,000 LinkedIn members in Wichita, KS, 338 left in the past 12 months.

The U.S. cities gaining the most people are Austin, TX; Denver, CO; and Charlotte, NC. For every 10,000 LinkedIn members in Austin, TX, 133 arrived in the last 12 months.

Austin, TX; Denver, CO; and San Diego, CA are the U.S. 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, TX, 728 arrived in or left the city 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 skills are in shortage in those cities, and which jobs are open.