Dive Brief:
- U.S. hiring grew 10.4% in 2017, with consistently steady numbers since a May peak, according to the December 2017 LinkedIn Workforce Report.
- Not all cities are feeling the effects of the boom, however. Skill gaps have widened in the Salt Lake City, Raleigh-Durham, and Philadelphia areas. The shortage between skilled workers and available jobs intensified most in Salt Lake City, San Antonio and West Palm Beach.
- Seattle, Denver and Austin gained the most workers in the past year, while Hartford, CT continued a steady decline: 57.3 out of every 10,000 LinkedIn users in Hartford left the city in 2017.
Dive Insight:
The LinkedIn report is based on “hiring rates,” basically the percentage of LinkedIn members who changed their employers during the month, divided by the total amount of LinkedIn members.
Across all industries, financial services and insurance experienced the biggest hiring increases in 2017 versus 2016 at 26.8%; oil and energy at 25.4%; and manufacturing and industrial at 25%. This confirms other reports that growth in the manufacturing sector is strong and consistent.
As the push for skilled workers puts the pressure on employers across the country, some cities are seeing the effects more starkly than others. Even as businesses work with trade schools, universities, bootcamps and apprenticeship programs to fill vacancies, the skills gap continues to widen in many cities across the country.
