LinkedIn Workforce Report | United States | March 2025
With over 225 million LinkedIn members in the United States, we have unique insight into the real-time dynamics of Americans starting new jobs and moving to new cities. This month’s LinkedIn Workforce Report looks at our latest national data on hiring and migration trends through January 2025.
For more insight into localized employment trends in 20 of the largest U.S. metro areas, check out this month’s 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.
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:
- Hiring remains steady so far in 2025: Nationally, across all industries, hiring remained virtually unchanged (+0.3%) from January to February, slowing -3.4% compared to February 2024. This is the second month in a row where we’ve seen some of the smallest hiring declines since the LinkedIn Hiring Rate began declining in Spring 2022 - ongoing signs of a labor market that’s coming into balance.
- Broad industry hiring gains in February: Hiring increased in 15 out 20 industries from January to February. The industries where hiring accelerated the most month-over-month were Wholesale (+16.5%), Oil, Gas, and Mining (+6.8%), and Administrative and Support Services (+6.5%). Hiring slowed the most in Holding Companies (-10.3%), Government Administration (-6.4%), and Utilities (-3.1%). However, hiring was up in February 2025 compared to February 2024 in three notable industries: Financial Services (+3.5%), Accommodation and Food Services (+2.4%), and Technology, Information and Media (+1.5%). The slowdown in hiring in Government Administration comes in tandem with a surge in applications in the DC-Baltimore area - up 175% from September 2024 - from government workers as the Federal government workforce shrinks.
Hiring gains split across major metros: Hiring accelerated in 10 out of 20 metro areas we track from January to February. We saw the greatest hiring gains in Dallas-Fort Worth (+3.1%), Houston (+3.0%), and Los Angeles (+2.6%). Hiring slowed the most in Denver (-4.8%), Seattle (-4.5%) and St. Louis (-2.2%). Compared to February 2024, hiring was only up in Miami-Ft. Lauderdale (+1.4%) and Atlanta (+0.5%) and virtually unchanged in New York City (+0.3%). The sunbelt continues to hire robustly overall with hiring up or near pre-pandemic levels in Miami-Fort Lauderdale and Phoenix.
Hiring
The LinkedIn hiring rate is a measure of hires divided by LinkedIn membership. Nationally, across all industries, hiring in the U.S. was 0.3% higher in February 2025 compared to last month January 2025. National hiring was 3.4% lower in February 2025 compared to last year February 2024.
SEASONALLY ADJUSTED HIRING
The industries with the most notable hiring shifts month-to-month in February 2025 were Wholesale (16.5% higher); Oil, Gas, and Mining (6.8% higher); and Administrative and Support Services (6.5% higher).
Table 1: Hiring on LinkedIn, by Industry, through February 2025
Industry | Feb-24 | ··· | Nov-24 | Dec-24 | Jan-25 | Feb-25 | MoM% Change | YoY% Change |
Accommodation and Food Services | 0.95 | ··· | 0.91 | 0.96 | 0.94 | 0.97 | +3.2 | +2.4 |
Administrative and Support Services | 0.88 | ··· | 0.85 | 0.90 | 0.80 | 0.85 | +6.5 | -3.2 |
Construction | 1.25 | ··· | 1.15 | 1.20 | 1.20 | 1.19 | -0.7 | -5.3 |
Consumer Services | 1.17 | ··· | 1.15 | 1.14 | 1.13 | 1.15 | +1.6 | -1.7 |
Education | 1.17 | ··· | 1.11 | 1.14 | 1.13 | 1.16 | +3.2 | -0.1 |
Entertainment Providers | 0.94 | ··· | 0.87 | 0.88 | 0.85 | 0.88 | +3.6 | -6.7 |
Farming, Ranching, Forestry | 1.11 | ··· | 0.98 | 0.92 | 0.96 | 1.02 | +6.1 | -7.9 |
Financial Services | 0.98 | ··· | 0.95 | 1.02 | 1.01 | 1.02 | +0.9 | +3.5 |
Government Administration | 1.16 | ··· | 1.02 | 1.05 | 1.07 | 1.00 | -6.4 | -13.6 |
Holding Companies | 0.79 | ··· | 0.72 | 0.74 | 0.73 | 0.66 | -10.3 | -17.1 |
Hospitals and Health Care | 1.15 | ··· | 1.07 | 1.09 | 1.09 | 1.09 | -0.4 | -5.8 |
Manufacturing | 0.94 | ··· | 0.83 | 0.86 | 0.84 | 0.84 | +0 | -10.4 |
Oil, Gas, and Mining | 0.92 | ··· | 0.81 | 0.85 | 0.80 | 0.85 | +6.8 | -7.9 |
Professional Services | 0.91 | ··· | 0.86 | 0.89 | 0.87 | 0.88 | +1.9 | -2.6 |
Real Estate and Equipment Rental Services | 0.99 | ··· | 0.95 | 0.98 | 0.86 | 0.90 | +4.1 | -9.7 |
Retail | 0.85 | ··· | 0.82 | 0.83 | 0.82 | 0.84 | +3.1 | -0.7 |
Technology, Information and Media | 0.87 | ··· | 0.82 | 0.92 | 0.85 | 0.88 | +4 | +1.5 |
Transportation, Logistics, Supply Chain and Storage | 1.04 | ··· | 0.99 | 1.03 | 0.98 | 1.03 | +4.4 | -1.4 |
Utilities | 1.19 | ··· | 1.09 | 1.14 | 1.12 | 1.09 | -3.1 | -8.4 |
Wholesale | 0.86 | ··· | 0.82 | 0.89 | 0.72 | 0.84 | +16.5 | -1.7 |
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.
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.
