Weekly Hourly Hiring Report 2/23/22

Highlights

Overall, hourly jobs are up 174% compared to pre-pandemic norms, seeing a 6% month-over-month gain, and a 76% year-over-year growth. Google searches for hourly jobs are up 11% from this time last year.

The labor shortage has been a defining feature of the pandemic, and we've covered the topic weekly since March of 2020. While a complicated set of issues contribute, one thing we know for sure is that there are entire groups of workers being overlooked even though they could be part of the workforce solution. This month we’ll spotlight non-violent offenders.

With an estimated 11 million job openings, and significantly fewer job seekers to fill them, employers are scrambling to hire. Recent research suggests that one major pool of untapped workers is non-violent criminal offenders–particularly among the 1 million unemployed men between the ages of 24-35 (according to the Bureau of Labor Statistics). A recent RAND Corporation study shows that among this specific group of men, 64% have been arrested and 46% convicted of a crime.

In many cases, this makes willing job candidates automatically ineligible for work. However, as RAND’s Senior Policy Researcher Shawn Bushway points out, this can be an overreaction. “Most employers believe that most people with criminal histories will commit offenses again. But this is not the case,” he explains. “Employers need to adopt a more nuanced approach to the issue.”

Companies who don’t consider the severity of crimes, and group together violent and non-violent offenders, are reducing their available pool of workers. An example of a missed opportunity might be someone convicted of a drug offense in a state where that state has now decriminalized the offense. While there’s no rule set in stone, depending on each employer’s situation, it may be valuable to consider non-violent criminals. If you want to learn more about this topic, consider reading the book Untapped Talent by Jeff Korzenik.

Turning to hourly job hiring in the US, here are jobs with the most movement:

• The fastest-growing job sector is Healthcare (+9% month-over-month)

• The slowest growing job sectors are Hotel & Hospitality and Warehouse & Production (each -15% month-over-month)

While the gap between jobs and applicants remains wide, the weakening of omicron brings much-needed relief. More possible relief could be found in exploring talent pools you might not be considering, such as non-violent criminal offenders.

Jobs

All industry data is from 3/2/20-02/21/2022

Here are the latest overall job numbers:

Overall hourly jobs are up 174% compared to pre-pandemic norms, seeing a 6% month-over-month gain and a 76% year-over-year growth. Google searches for hourly jobs are up 11% from this time last year.

Here are the latest job numbers by industry:

Food & Restaurant jobs are up 41% compared to pre-pandemic norms, seeing a 2% month-over-month gain and 23% year-over-year growth.

Hotel & Hospitality jobs are up 35% compared to pre-pandemic norms, seeing a 15% month-over-month decline and 13% year-over-year growth.

Healthcare jobs are up 125% compared to pre-pandemic norms, seeing a 9% month-over-month gain and 35% year-over-year growth.

Retail jobs are up 41% compared to pre-pandemic norms, seeing a 1% month-over-month decline and a 23% year-over-year gain.

Warehouse & Production jobs are 598% compared to pre-pandemic norms, seeing a 15% month-over-month decline and a 237% year-over-year gain.

Workers

Google searches for hourly jobs are up 11% 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.