Weekly Hourly Hiring Report 2/16/22

Highlights

Overall, hourly jobs are up 185% compared to pre-pandemic norms, seeing a 10% month-over-month gain, and an 83% year-over-year growth. Google searches for hourly jobs are down 13% from this time last year.

A major takeaway is that the US has plenty of available jobs (10.9 million), but not enough workers willing to fill them (6.5 million unemployed workers). Even if every unemployed person took a job today, there would still be 4.4 million open jobs.

Drilling down, it’s insightful to see which industries are most impacted by this labor shortage. Recent research by the US Chamber of Commerce’s America Works Data Center suggests that we’re seeing less of a Great Resignation, and more of a Great Reshuffling. Workers are leaving one industry to find better work in another, with some sectors impacted more than others.

The study found that last year’s “quit rate” was highest in Hospitality (6.4%), with Wholesale (3.8%) and Retail (3.8%) not far behind. Bottom line, this translates into low-paying and less-stable industries being more impacted as job seekers level up.

• In December of 2021, unfilled job openings remain the highest in Manufacturing (70%) and Hospitality (60%).

• Currently, there are 75 workers for every 100 open jobs in the US.

• We’re experiencing a 62.2% labor participation rate.

• While the US has a 4.5% hiring rate, this is offset by a 3% national quit rate.

Specifically in hourly hiring, here are the latest trends:

• Fastest rising job categories (year-over-year): Warehouse & Production (+242%), Retail (+40%), and Healthcare (+33%).

• Slowest short-term movement in job categories (month-to-month): Warehouse & Production (-14%), Hotel & Hospitality (-8%), and Food & Restaurant (+3%). 

Given the extreme gap between available jobs and available workers, the scales have tipped towards job seekers. Now in the driver’s seat, workers are seeking higher pay, more benefits, and added flexibility. Dissatisfied with current jobs or available offers, many are quitting to move into job categories that offer the best opportunities. The impact of this is having an unduly negative effect on many industries that are looking to staff up soon for summer.

Jobs

All industry data is from 3/2/20-2/15/2022

Here are the latest overall job numbers:

Overall jobs are up 185% compared to pre-pandemic norms, seeing a 10% month-over-month gain, and an 83% year-over-year growth.

Here are the latest job numbers by industry:

Food & Restaurant jobs are up 41% compared to pre-pandemic norms, seeing a 3% month-over-month gain, and a 24% year-over-year growth.

Hotel & Hospitality jobs are up 46% compared to pre-pandemic norms, seeing an 8% month-over-month decline, and a 22% year-over-year gain.

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Healthcare jobs are up 122% compared to pre-pandemic norms, seeing an 8% month-over-month gain, and a 33% year-over-year growth.

Retail jobs are up 59% compared to pre-pandemic norms, seeing a 13% month-over-month gain, and a 40% year-over-year growth.

Warehouse & Production jobs are up 609% compared to pre-pandemic norms, seeing a 14% month-over-month decline, and a 242% year-over-year growth.

Workers

Google searches for hourly jobs are down 13% year-over-year.

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.