September Workforce Report: Hiring remains strong through August

The summer showed no slowdown of job creation, as hiring across the U.S. was 7.2 percent higher this August than it was a year ago, according to the September LinkedIn Workforce Report. One exception to the positive national trend was in the Houston metro area between Aug 27 and Aug 30 during Hurricane Harvey -- Houston saw a sharp decline in hiring compared to normal levels.

The oil and energy sectors once again added the most workers, and had the biggest year-over-year increase in hiring (16.3 percent higher). Manufacturing and industrial (7.4 percent higher); and government, education, and nonprofit (5.9 percent higher) rounded out the strongest industries.

Seasonally-adjusted hiring (hiring that excludes seasonal hiring variations – like companies hiring less in December due to the holiday season) was 1.5 percent 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.

Key insights:

• Hospitality and travel skills in demand as tourists flock to the fastest-growing U.S. cities – Move over Miami and Las Vegas. If you’re looking to work in the travel industry, head to the fast-growing cities of Austin, Denver, Jacksonville, and Tampa-St. Petersburg. This is where 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.

• 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’re 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 LinkedIn Workforce Report helps workers better navigate their careers by highlighting workforce trends in the U.S. and across 20 cities. Insights include whether hiring is up, down, or flat, which skills cities need most, and where workers are moving to and from.

Click here to read more of our September report.