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Public Insight’s August Jobs Report was reviewed before a growing number of webinar attendees. Each month we share Indeed job posting data and help professionals like yourself gain insights on the post-pandemic labor market. Of the attendees surveyed, 80% rated the information shared as “Very Valuable” while the remaining 20% of respondents rated the job postings information as “Somewhat Valuable”.
The August Jobs Report shows that job postings continue to reflect signs of an economy struggling to retain momentum. August Indeed job posting activity continued a four-month modest winning streak (barely) as job postings increased just under 1% during the month. Postings are still below pre-pandemic levels, but within shouting distance.
Watch the August Jobs Report Webinar of our findings as presented by Public Insight on September 10th.
Watch a replay of the July Jobs Report and other past webinars here.
Join us on Thursday, October 8th as we review the September 2020 Jobs Report.
Job Postings By Day Continue to Rise
The postings by weekday seem to suggest that the strength continued into September. Postings are cyclical by day and when examining growth during the month, it is helpful to look at it by the day of the week. The graph below shows the posting activity by weekday. The largest single posting day of the month occurred on Friday, August 28 but was followed by a decline on Monday August 31st.
Childcare Service Occupations, Construction and Transportation Experience Growth
Like every month since April, growth by occupational category has been very mixed.
- Personal care and service occupations increased 16%. This was mostly due to postings for nannies and childcare workers that doubled in August principally through intermediaries and personal care web sites. Much of this explosive growth may be as a result of the unexpected format of fall school openings.
- Construction jobs increased 7% in August following earlier summer lulls. A sudden and unexpected housing boom post-pandemic seems likely to be fueling this growth.
- Transportation and material moving occupations continue to show strong growth at 6% increase on the heels of a nearly 40% increase in July. There seems to be no letting up on this growth given Amazon’s recent announcement of 100,000 new jobs.
- Unfortunately, food preparation and serving after a strong May rebound continues to lag other occupations declining 7% in August on the heels of a 2.5% decline in July.
- We had previously highlighted in July the improvement in traditional administrative support occupations, which were lagging during the pandemic stay-at-home months. August reflected that office and administrative occupations were still showing growth at 3% but were maintaining the same pace as management occupations.
JOLTS Data Emphasizes Strong Summer Growth
The Bureau of Labor Statistics Job Openings and Labor Turnover Survey (JOLTS) showed very strong July numbers. JOLTS data is reported about 40 days after the end of each reporting month, learn more about JOLTS data in our recent blog post. According to the latest numbers released on September 9th, JOLTS showed job openings in the month of July rebounded to above the five-year average (constant dotted line) on the heels of a 30% decline during the pandemic.
JOLTS data by industry reflect the strong growth in construction and retail while underscoring the weakness in food service and hospitality.
About Insight for Work
Insight for Work is a self-service analysis platform for the labor market. It combines data from job postings, hiring company profiles and ratings, compensation and benefit surveys, applicant and resumé profiles, and government agency publications with the power of the Microsoft® Power BI business intelligence platform. Instantly analyze occupation, industry, and company opportunities and trends to evaluate strategies and programs and prioritize resources.
