LinkedIn Workforce Report | United States | November 2017
Over 141 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. This gives us unique insights into U.S. workforce trends.
The LinkedIn Workforce Report is a monthly report on employment trends in the U.S. workforce, and this month’s report looks at our latest data from October 2017. 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. 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
Hiring continues strong through October – Hiring across the U.S. was 24.1% higher this October versus October 2016. Seasonally-adjusted hiring (hiring that excludes seasonal hiring variations—like companies hiring less in December due to the holiday season) was 0.3% higher in October than in September this year. The industries that experienced the biggest year-over-year increase in hiring in October were oil and energy (33.0% higher); manufacturing and industrial (26.3% higher); and architecture and engineering (23.3% higher).
At tech companies and NGOs, politics skills are in high demand – What’s the state of jobs in politics, a year after the 2016 election? “Politics” skills—which range from grassroots organizing, elections, and political campaigns to international relations, political communication, and economic development—are in demand from employers beyond just the government. Unsurprisingly, we found that in state capitals like Nashville and Denver, state government agencies and universities are the top employers of workers with politics skills. But in other large cities, like the San Francisco Bay Area, Seattle, and New York City, the top employers hiring people with politics skills are tech companies, NGOs, and universities. The top functions occupied by people with politics skills are in community and social services, education, and business development.
In cities losing the most workers, teachers, nurses, and construction workers are last to go – Throughout the past year, Hartford, Norfolk, and Providence have consistently topped our list of cities losing the most workers to outward migration. What do these shrinking cities share in common? An overabundance of workers skilled in education and teaching, healthcare management, and construction. These same skills are in high demand in many other U.S. cities such as, Austin, Denver, and Boston which have a huge shortage of education and teaching and healthcare management skills. Washington, D.C., Houston, and Pittsburgh are experiencing shortages of workers skilled in construction.
Hiring continues strong through October
Hiring across the U.S. was 24.1% higher this October versus October 2016.
Seasonally-adjusted hiring (hiring that excludes seasonal hiring variations—like companies hiring less in December due to the holiday season) was 0.3% higher in October than in September this year.
Industry Hiring
The industries that experienced the biggest year-over-year increase in hiring in October were oil and energy (33.0% higher); manufacturing and industrial (26.3% higher); and architecture and engineering (23.3% higher). Hiring in these industries has been consistently strong since the beginning of the year.
At tech companies and NGOs, politics skills are in high demand
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 can be good news for jobseekers when it’s caused by a scarcity of skills, or bad news when it’s caused by an abundance of skills.
This month, we wanted to take a look at any geographic shifts in the supply and demand of “politics” skills a year after the 2016 election. Politics skills range from grassroots organizing, elections, and political campaigns to international relations, political communication, and economic development.
Interestingly, on the eve of the 2016 election, the ten biggest shortages were generally in large metro areas rather than in swing states; the only real exceptions here were Charlotte and Cleveland-Akron. This likely reflects the fact that the majority of people with politics skills work for local government or universities rather than for political campaigns.
That distribution pattern could also be the reason there was no real reversion after the election. We did see a sharp narrowing in New York City’s shortage of political workers—both presidential campaigns were headquartered there—but otherwise there was no correlation between the skills gap for politics skills a year ago and the direction it has moved since then.
Unsurprisingly, in state capitals like Nashville and Denver, state government agencies and universities are the top employers of workers with politics skills.
But we also found that, elsewhere, politics skills are in demand from employers beyond government and universities. In other large cities, like the San Francisco Bay Area, Seattle, and New York City, the top employers hiring people with politics skills are tech companies and NGOs. The top functions occupied by people with politics skills are in community and social services, education, and business development. Rising demand from tech companies and NGOs is a trend we’re keeping an eye on.
At a macro level, the cities with the largest skills gaps overall are San Francisco, 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 skillsets such as healthcare management, or education and teaching. To see which other skills are in scarcity, check out the San Francisco, Washington, D.C., and Austin City Reports.
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 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.
In cities losing the most workers, teachers, nurses, and construction workers are the last to go
The U.S. cities gaining the most workers overall are Seattle, Denver, and Austin. For every 10,000 LinkedIn members in Seattle, 67.2 arrived in the last 12 months.
Throughout the past year, Hartford, Norfolk, and Providence have consistently topped our list of cities losing the most workers to outward migration. For every 10,000 LinkedIn members in Hartford, 57.4 left the city in the last 12 months.
What do these shrinking cities share in common? An overabundance of workers skilled in education and teaching, healthcare management, and construction. These same skills are in high demand in many other U.S. cities: Austin, Denver, and Boston have a huge shortage of education and teaching and healthcare management skills. Washington, D.C., Houston, and Pittsburgh are experiencing shortages of workers skilled in construction.
In addition to its abundance of teachers and nurses, Hartford has an abundant talent pool of workers skilled in software engineering, IT infrastructure and system management, finance, and management consulting. Employers looking for any of these skills should look to Hartford—or even consider opening up shop there.
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.
