Q4 2017 Regional U.S. Employment Trends: Supply vs. Demand

Opportunity breaks down employment trends in the United States by region in an effort to understand the supply vs. demand of the current job market.

Overview

As we enter 2018, Opportunity looks inward at the data offered by our millions of job seekers and hiring managers in the United States over these last 3 months (Q4 2017) to understand the impact geography is having on current employment trends. Specifically, a). Where are hiring managers posting job opportunities? b). where are job seekers looking for job opportunities? We also look back our our results from one year ago (Q4 2016) to see what changes if any are ocurring in each region across the U.S.

What We Found

Of the combined job seekers and hiring managers sampled (Hiring Managers who posted job openings AND Job Seekers who created/updated profiles) over the past 90 days, the regional breakdowns are as follows:

Percentage of Job Seekers using Opportunity to look for employment.

Q4 2016	Q4 2017	YOY Diff.
Northeast	22%	28%	+6%
Midwest	17%	17%	—-
South	35%	19%	-16%
West	26%	36%	+10%

Percentage of Jobs Openings posted by Hiring Managers on Opportunity

Q4 2016	Q4 2017	YOY Diff.
Northeast	16%	24%	+8%
Midwest	27%	22%	-5%
South	30%	18%	-12%
West	27%	36%	+11%

Conclusions

Employment supply and demand trends (job openings vs. people looking for jobs) across all regions appear to be running in tandem. For example, the majority of jobs being posted by hiring managers are in regions (Northeast and West) where there are also more people looking for work – suggesting a far more ‘fluid’ job environment where job seekers are being provided with perhaps more opportunities for mobility. Conversely, the Midwest and South have witnessed both a decline in job postings and a decline in the number of people looking for work suggesting that these regions have either reached something closer to ‘full employment’ or the number of formerly unemployed workers have become disenfranchised and have dropped out of the labor market altogether. Statistics from the Bureau of Labor Statistics (See Table B/C) hints that the former may be the case as unemployment has decreased in many of the states within the South and Midwest, while states in the Northeast and West have not experienced the same decline in unemployment YOY.

Datasource: Opportunity

Opportunity shall not be held liable for improper or incorrect use of the data described or information contained on these pages. The data, information and related graphics are not legal documents and are not intended to be used as such. Opportunity gives no warranty, express or implied, as to the accuracy, reliability, utility or completeness of this information.