Job totals return to pre-pandemic numbers, but hiring success remains elusive for fans of the status quo

Highlights

Overall, hourly jobs are up 167% compared to pre-pandemic norms, seeing a 4% month-over-month decline, and a 7% year-over-year growth. 

However, the economy continues to be a conundrum for economists and other armchair punditsーnot to mention businesses hiring for summer and beyond. 

Case in point: even as job numbers have fairly quickly returned to pre-pandemic numbers (more on that later), staffing-up remains challenging for businesses slow to adapt their hiring playbook to evolving worker needs. This is no wonder, as there are 11.3 million openings at last tally. Yet, there still remains only 5.3 million workers willing to fill these open positions (read: there are nearly two jobs for every one worker, with another 4.3 million Americans quitting their jobs in May alone). 

What’s perplexing is that these numbers don’t jibe with other leading economic indicators (read: the US Gross National Product has shrunk two quarters in a row, suggesting an economic slowdown is in the wind). This phenomenon is what some are calling a “full-employment recession,” and it’s never happened before in the US or anywhere. Usually, when the economy goes south, so do job openings. But this is not the case, as businesses trying to hire know all too well.

Best advice? Staff up early for the holiday rush, as despite economic swings one way or another, there is still going to be a shortfall of available workers. Our recent Summer Hourly Hiring Report 2022 offers insights on what’s causing this shortage and tips on standing out in the crowd by aligning with today’s worker expectations.

In other hiring news, as mentioned above, the US economy has now made up the 21 million gap in jobs lost from when the pandemic first hit. The largest gain among hourly workers is the Warehouse & Production sector, which has benefitted greatly from the e-commerce boom as consumers shopped from home. At Snagajob, Warehouse & Production hourly job openings are up 80% from this time last year.

Since the pandemic began in March 2020, these hourly work job sectors have had the largest growth in terms of percentages:

• Warehouse & Production: +1179%

• Healthcare: + 183%

• Retail: +47%

Jobs

All industry data is from 3/2/20-7/19/22

Here are the latest overall job numbers:

Overall hourly jobs are up 167% compared to pre-pandemic norms, seeing a 4% month-over-month decline, and a 7% year-over-year growth. 

Here are the latest job numbers by industry:

Food & Restaurant jobs are up 27% compared to pre-pandemic norms, seeing a 4% month-over-month drop, and a 12% year-over-year decline.

Hotel & Hospitality jobs are up 14% compared to pre-pandemic norms, seeing a 27% month-over-month drop, and a 53% year-over-year growth.

Healthcare jobs are up 183% compared to pre-pandemic norms, seeing a 4% month-over-month drop, and a 10% year-over-year decline.

Retail jobs are up 47% compared to pre-pandemic norms, seeing a 2% month-over-month gain, and a 1% year-over-year decline.

Warehouse & Production jobs are up 1179% compared to pre-pandemic norms, seeing a 10% month-over-month decline, and an 80% year-over-year growth.

The bottom line

We’ll continue to be your best resource for hourly job market insights as we collectively navigate towards our new normal and beyond.

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