LinkedIn Workforce Report | United States | October 2020
Over 169 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 36,000 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
Hiring in the U.S. during September dipped 0.7% from August 2020. Looking at where that puts us from last year, hiring this month remains 13.3% lower than it was in September 2019.
Month-over-month gains across industries were smaller this month, but we did see positive momentum building in: Energy & Mining (+7.3%), Transportation & Logistics (2.3%), Education (2.1%), and Wellness & Fitness (+1.1%). Transportation & Logistics and Wellness & Fitness are also among industries that are showing signs of year-over year recovery, posting gains of 1.4% and 4.1% respectively.
Sunbelt and southern cities continue to climb closer to recovery. From August to September, we saw the strongest gains in: Houston (+8.1%), Cleveland (+2.7%), Phoenix (+2.3%), Nashville (+1.9%) and Atlanta (+1.3%). Looking at year-over-year benchmarks, Phoenix (-6.5%), Atlanta (-10.3%) and Cleveland (-11.2%) are also among the closest to recovery, but Miami (-0.2%) is the closest as of September.
This slowdown in the pace of recovery shows us that, first, we’ve likely exhausted the hires that were easiest to turn back on with reopening, and second, that there’s a COVID ceiling to the recovery. Ongoing case spikes and outbreaks, coupled with fiscal stimulus expiring, will continue to limit employers’ ability to invest in new hires.
Hiring
The LinkedIn hiring rate is a measure of hires divided by LinkedIn membership. Nationally, across all industries, hiring in the U.S. was 13.3% lower than in September 2019. National hiring was 0.7% lower in September from August 2020.
The industries with the most notable hiring shifts month-to-month in September were Energy & Mining (7.3% higher m/m); Transportation & Logistics (2.3% higher m/m); and Education (2.1% higher m/m).
Table 1: Hiring on LinkedIn, by Industry, through September 2020
Industry | Sep-19 | ··· | Jun-20 | Jul-20 | Aug-20 | Sep-20 | MoM% Change | YoY% Change |
Agriculture | 1.17 | ··· | 1.05 | 1.13 | 1.16 | 1.16 | -0.4 | -0.8 |
Arts | 0.82 | ··· | 0.49 | 0.51 | 0.45 | 0.40 | -11.5 | -51.5 |
Construction | 1.20 | ··· | 0.85 | 1.11 | 1.11 | 1.11 | -0.5 | -7.8 |
Consumer Goods | 1.06 | ··· | 0.57 | 0.88 | 0.90 | 0.89 | -0.4 | -16 |
Corporate Services | 1.13 | ··· | 0.53 | 1.00 | 1.00 | 1.00 | +0.4 | -11.6 |
Education | 1.09 | ··· | 0.80 | 0.81 | 0.78 | 0.79 | +2.1 | -27 |
Energy & Mining | 1.13 | ··· | 0.73 | 0.76 | 0.73 | 0.79 | +7.3 | -30.2 |
Entertainment | 0.98 | ··· | 0.36 | 0.84 | 0.78 | 0.72 | -7.7 | -27.2 |
Finance | 1.17 | ··· | 0.70 | 1.07 | 1.09 | 1.05 | -3.1 | -9.7 |
Hardware & Networking | 0.92 | ··· | 0.82 | 0.80 | 0.81 | 0.80 | -1.4 | -13.1 |
Health Care | 1.10 | ··· | 0.75 | 1.07 | 1.09 | 1.10 | +0.9 | -0.4 |
Legal | 1.00 | ··· | 0.98 | 1.07 | 0.81 | 0.77 | -5.6 | -23.6 |
Manufacturing | 1.13 | ··· | 0.89 | 0.97 | 1.02 | 1.03 | +0.9 | -9.1 |
Nonprofit | 1.05 | ··· | 0.69 | 0.97 | 0.97 | 0.97 | -0.6 | -8.1 |
Public Administration | 1.14 | ··· | 0.85 | 1.19 | 1.21 | 1.11 | -8.2 | -2.7 |
Public Safety | 1.09 | ··· | 0.94 | 1.03 | 1.03 | 1.00 | -3.1 | -8.2 |
Real Estate | 1.23 | ··· | 0.90 | 1.02 | 1.12 | 1.12 | +0 | -8.5 |
Recreation & Travel | 1.10 | ··· | 0.31 | 0.71 | 0.71 | 0.72 | +0.8 | -34.8 |
Retail | 1.06 | ··· | 0.56 | 0.92 | 0.94 | 0.93 | -1.8 | -12.5 |
Software & IT Services | 1.21 | ··· | 0.81 | 0.88 | 1.04 | 1.02 | -1.8 | -16.3 |
Transportation & Logistics | 1.15 | ··· | 0.79 | 1.05 | 1.14 | 1.16 | +2.3 | +1.4 |
Wellness & Fitness | 1.15 | ··· | 0.95 | 1.18 | 1.18 | 1.20 | +1.1 | +4.1 |
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 2015-2016 for each industry; for example, an index of 1.05 indicates a hiring rate that is 5% higher than the average month in 2015-2016.
Migration
The U.S. cities losing the most people are Bryan-College Station, TX; State College, PA; and Urbana-Champaign, IL. For every 10,000 LinkedIn members in Bryan-College Station, TX, 275 left in the past 12 months.
The U.S. cities gaining the most people are Austin, TX; Charlotte, NC; and Tampa-St. Petersburg, FL. For every 10,000 LinkedIn members in Austin, TX, 139 arrived 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 jobs are open.
