LinkedIn Workforce Report | United States | September 2017
Over 138 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 August 2017. It’s divided into two sections: a National section that provides insights into hiring, skills gaps, and migration trends across the United States, 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 remains strong through August – Hiring across the U.S. was 7.2% higher this August versus August 2016. Seasonally-adjusted hiring (hiring that excludes seasonal hiring variations – like companies hiring less in December due to the holiday season) was 1.5% higher in August than in July this year. Throughout the summer, hiring has stayed consistently strong with no signs of weakening. The industries that experienced the biggest year-over-year increase in hiring in August are oil and energy (16.3% higher); manufacturing and industrial (7.4% higher); and government, education, and nonprofit (5.9% higher). One notable exception to this positive national trend was in the Houston metro area: between August 27 and August 30, during Hurricane Harvey, Houston experienced a sharp decline in hiring compared to normal levels.
- Tourists flock to the fastest-growing U.S. cities, drive local demand for travel and hospitality skills – Look beyond the glitz of Las Vegas and Miami, if you’re looking to work in the travel industry. In the fast-growing cities of Austin, Denver, Jacksonville, and Tampa-St. Petersburg, we’re seeing rapid growth in demand for people skilled in travel and hospitality skills. These skills include hotel management, reservations and hotel booking, tour operating, business travel, and destination marketing. Demand for travel and hospitality skills is also growing in the booming cities of Portland, Oklahoma City, and Phoenix. Across all these cities, operations, sales, and customer-facing roles are at the top of the list for open jobs. If you have travel & hospitality industry skills, consider checking out jobs in these up-and-coming travel destinations!
- Detroit is the new Chicago, with surging demand for high tech skills – Detroit has rebounded from the depths of its 2008-2013 unemployment crisis with an unemployment rate that’s now closer to the national average and comparable to its Midwestern peers like Chicago and Cleveland-Akron. This economic upswing is reflected in Detroit’s inbound and outbound migration patterns. Like most Midwestern cities, Detroit loses more people than it gains – but Detroit is losing people on a much smaller scale than what we’re seeing in Chicago, St. Louis, and Cleveland-Akron. Interestingly, we are also seeing Detroit pulling talent from Chicago. When adjusted for population size, Chicago is losing three times as many people as Detroit. While Detroit is losing people to the Sunbelt and Pacific Northwest, it’s also seeing inflows from cities like Houston. In contrast, Chicago, Cleveland-Akron and St. Louis are losing people to Houston. The growth in Detroit can be partly attributed to surging demand for high tech skills, much of it within the auto sector; over the past two years, demand has grown for people skilled in scripting languages, software debugging, and integrated circuit design. While the absolute prevalence of these skills is still relatively low, Detroit’s burgeoning tech micro-cluster is worth keeping an eye on.
Hiring remains strong through August
Hiring across the U.S. was 7.2% higher this August versus August 2016.
Seasonally-adjusted hiring (hiring that excludes seasonal hiring variations – like companies hiring less in December due to the holiday season) was 1.5% higher in August than in July this year. Throughout the summer, hiring has stayed consistently strong with no signs of weakening, nor of further acceleration since July.
One notable exception to this national trend was in the Houston metro area: seasonally-adjusted hiring in Houston was down 13.7% from July. This can largely be attributed to Hurricane Harvey; between August 27 and August 30, during the hurricane, Houston experienced a sharp decline in hiring compared to normal levels. During those four days, hiring in Houston was about 40% below year-earlier levels.
We expect that some parts of Houston will feel a residual impact from Hurricane Harvey while other sectors will soon revert to normal and some may even see a catch-up, or rebuilding effect. For more details, check out Houston’s City Report.
Industry Hiring
The industries that experienced the biggest year-over-year increase in hiring in August are oil and energy (16.3% higher); manufacturing and industrial (7.4% higher); and government, education, and nonprofit (5.9% higher).
Tourists flock to the fastest-growing U.S. cities, driving local demand for travel and hospitality skills
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 is good news for jobseekers when it’s caused by a scarcity of skills, and bad news when it’s caused by an abundance of skills. The cities with the largest skills gaps 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.
In the fast-growing cities of Austin, Denver, Jacksonville, and Tampa-St. Petersburg, we’re seeing rapid growth in demand for people skilled in travel and hospitality skills. These skills include hotel management, reservations and hotel booking, tour operating, business travel, and destination marketing.
Demand for travel and hospitality skills is also growing in the booming cities of Portland, Oklahoma City, and Phoenix. Across all these cities, the roles being hired for are primarily operations, sales, and customer-facing jobs.
As cities grow and prosper economically, they start to attract not only new residents, but also new visitors. In other words: successful cities can quickly become new travel destinations. If you’re interested in working in the travel and hospitality industry, consider checking out jobs in some of the up-and-coming travel destinations mentioned above.
The San Francisco Bay Area, Austin, and Washington, D.C. continue to have the greatest scarcity of skills. For details on precisely 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, 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.
Detroit is the new Chicago, with surging demand for high tech skills
Detroit has rebounded from the depths of its 2008-2013 unemployment crisis with an unemployment rate that’s now closer to the national average and comparable to its Midwestern peers like Chicago and Cleveland-Akron. This economic upswing is reflected in Detroit’s inbound and outbound migration patterns.
Like most Midwestern cities, Detroit loses more people than it gains – but Detroit is losing people on a much smaller scale than what we’re seeing in Chicago, St. Louis and Cleveland-Akron. Interestingly, we are also seeing Detroit pulling talent from Chicago. When adjusted for population size, Chicago is losing three times as many people as Detroit.
While Detroit is losing people to the Sunbelt and Pacific Northwest, it’s also seeing inflows from cities like Houston. In contrast, Chicago, Cleveland-Akron and St. Louis are losing people to Houston.
The growth in Detroit can be partly attributed to surging demand for high tech skills, much of it within the auto sector; over the past two years, demand has grown for people skilled in scripting languages, software debugging, and integrated circuit design. While the absolute prevalence of these skills is still relatively low, Detroit’s burgeoning tech micro-cluster is worth keeping an eye on.
The U.S. cities gaining the most workers overall are Seattle, Denver, and Austin. For every 10,000 LinkedIn members in Seattle, 67.8 arrived in the last 12 months.
In contrast, Hartford, Norfolk, and Pittsburgh are losing the most workers. For every 10,000 LinkedIn members in Hartford, 58.0 left the city in the last 12 months.
To learn more, check out the City Reports for Atlanta, Austin, Boston, Chicago, Cleveland-Akron, Dallas-Ft. Worth, Denver, 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.. And for more trends and analysis, check out last month’s National Report.
