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 pulled back slightly in August, down -0.7% from July. Looking back at August 2019, hiring is still down -11.3% year-over-year.
• Our August rates show that the virus has created a “ceiling” on just how much the economy can return to normal. Several layers of uncertainty dampened the blockbuster rebounds we saw between May and July: COVID cases flared up in fits and bursts across the country; expanded unemployment benefits officially expired; and many delayed reopening or began classes virtually, a severe challenge for households where all parents work.
• When we look at how industries fared, it appears that industries that were easiest to turn hiring back on may have already hired back as much as they have been able to. Real estate (+10.4% M/M) is doing well, likely boosted by record-low interest rates, and we’re also seeing a strong rebound in transportation & logistics (+8.4% M/M), likely boosted by inventory rebuild and manufacturing uptick -- and to some degree by summer travel.
• Austin (+7.4% M/M) and Denver (+4.7% M/M) are both leading cities in the recovery -- and both are among cities that were gaining the most workers as more affordable, growing cities pre-COVID.

Hiring

The LinkedIn hiring rate is a measure of hires divided by LinkedIn membership. Nationally, across all industries, hiring in the U.S. was 11.3% lower than in August 2019. National hiring was 0.7% lower in August from July 2020.

The industries with the most notable hiring shifts month-to-month in August were Real Estate (10.4% higher m/m); Transportation & Logistics (8.4% higher m/m); and Software & IT Services (7.5% higher m/m).

Table 1: Hiring on LinkedIn, by Industry, through August 2020

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, 271 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 skills are in shortage in those cities, and which jobs are open.