We will be regularly updating this data as we track how coronavirus impacts the global labor market. 

The trend in job postings — a real-time measure of labor market activity — is 10.6% lower than in 2019, as of December 31. That’s a modest gain from the end of November, when postings were 11.8% below last year’s trend.

Job postings in Indeed, United States
Line graph titled “Job postings in Indeed, United States.” With a vertical axis ranging from 0% to 120%, Indeed tracked the trend in job postings along a horizontal axis ranging from February 1 to December 31 with lines representing 2018, 2019, and 2020. The trend in job postings was 10.6% lower than in 2019, as of December 31, 2020. Caption added post-publication.

The trend in job postings was roughly in line with last year’s trend until the second week of March. Postings were 2.9% below the 2019 trend on March 15 then plunged over the next six weeks to a low point of 39.3% on May 1. There was improvement in May, June, and July, when our postings tracker improved by an average of 1.6 percentage points per week. Starting in August, improvement slowed to an average of just 0.4 percentage points per week.

Hospitality and tourism jobs have seen the biggest decline

Job postings have fallen most in occupations directly affected by the coronavirus such as hospitality & tourism, sports, and arts & entertainment. Hospitality & tourism postings are down 47%. Postings are below last year’s trend in many higher-wage office sectors, too, like software development and banking & finance.

In several goods-related sectors like driving, loading & stocking, construction, and manufacturing, job postings are ahead of last year’s levels. Pharmacy postings picked up at the end of the year, likely on upbeat vaccine news. But postings for in-person services like food prep and childcare jobs are down more than most other sectors. 

Table showing industries that have been hit hardest COVID 19
Table titled “Some sectors have been hit harder than others.” Indeed listed various sectors divided by “smaller than average declines,” “declines similar to economy average,” and “larger than average declines.” comparing percent change in postings trend from 2020 versus 2019 and the percentage point change since December 17, 2020. Hospitality & tourism postings were down 47%. Caption added post-publication.

Job postings for lower-wage occupations have recovered most, at 7% below trend vs. 11% for higher-wage occupations.This pattern in job postings is different from the trend in employment. Bureau of Labor Statistics data through mid-November show that lower-wage industries have lost the most jobs in the pandemic, by a wide margin. Lower-wage industries like retail and food service adjust their workforces in response to month-to-month or even week-to-week changes in demand. But it is more expensive and often takes longer to fire and hire higher-wage workers. Higher-wage industries like tech and finance might plan their headcounts based on what they expect demand to look like longer-term, in future quarters or years.

Line graph showing high-wage job postings on Indeed are lagging
Line graph titled “Higher-wage job postings lag.” With a vertical axis ranging from -40% to 0%, Indeed tracked the trend in job postings in 2020 versus 2019 along a horizontal axis ranging from February 1 to December 31 with lines representing “top-third,” “middle-third,” and “bottom-third” occupation wage tiers. As of December 31, 2020, postings in higher-wage occupations were 11% below trend, versus 7% below trend for lower-wage occupations. Caption added post-publication.

Where job postings have declined most

Within the US, the trend in job postings is down most in metro Honolulu, Seattle, and San Francisco. In these metros, job postings are down more than twice as much as the national average.

Table showing metros with the largest declines in job postings
Table titled “Metros with largest declines in job postings.” Indeed listed the top 10 US metros with the largest declines in job postings on Indeed as of December 31, 2020, comparing change in trend in postings and percentage point change from 2019 trend, and December 17, 2020. Urban Honolulu saw a drop of 33.5% compared with the 2019 trend. Caption added post-publication.

Job postings fell more initially in travel and tourism destinations, large and small, but postings have picked up since May in hospitality metros like Las Vegas, Miami, and Orlando. Job postings have rebounded much more slowly in metros where more of the jobs can be done from home. In work-from-home metros, postings in retail, restaurant, and personal-services jobs have suffered. Postings in high work-from-home metros remain 21% below last year’s trend, with slow recovery.

Line graph job postings in hospitality vs work from home metros
Line graph titled “Job postings in hospitality vs work-from-home metros.” With a vertical axis ranging from -50% to 5%, Indeed tracked the change in job postings trends in 2020 versus 2019 along a horizontal axis ranging from February 1, 2020, to December 31, 2020 with lines representing “all metros,” “high work-from-home metros,” and “high hospitality metros.” Postings in high work-from-home metros were 21% below the 2019 trend. Caption added post-publication.

Job postings have held up even in markets where the virus is surging. In metros with the highest rate of new infections since October, job postings are 4% above last year’s trend. 

Line graph job postings where COVID19 is surging
Line graph titled “Job postings where COVID19 is surging.” With a vertical axis ranging from -50% to 10%, Indeed tracked the change in job postings trends in 2020 versus 2019 along a horizontal axis ranging from February 1, 2020, to December 31, 2020 with lines representing “all other metros” and “surge metros.” In metros with the highest rate of new infections since October, job postings were 4% above the 2019 trend. Caption added post-publication.

We’ll be regularly updating this data. We also host the underlying chart data on Github as downloadable CSV files. Typically, it will be updated with the latest data one day after the respective Hiring Lab tracker is published.

We will be changing our methodology later this month so we can continue publishing a consistent series that starts on February 1, 2020. 

Methodology

To measure the trends in job postings, we calculated the 7-day moving average of the number of US job postings on Indeed. We index each day’s 7-day moving average to the start of that year (Feb 1, 2020 = 100 for 2020 data, and so on), or another date if specified on the chart.

We report how the trend in job postings this year differs from last year, in order to focus on the recent changes in labor market conditions due to COVID-19. For example: if job postings for a country increased 30% from February 1, 2019, to May 22, 2019, but only 20% from February 1, 2020, to May 22, 2020, then the index would have risen from 100 to 130 in 2019 and 100 to 120 in 2020. The year-to-date trend in job postings would therefore be down 7.7% on May 22 (120 is 7.7% below 130) in 2020 relative to 2019. 

In the tables for this post, the caption “change in trend in postings” represents the percent change in job growth rate from February 1 compared to the same date the year prior. 

We occasionally update the full series of job-postings numbers for metros and states. We exclude U.S. Armed Forces job postings, which tend to be clustered in specific locations at specific times. The trend numbers for individual metros and states might change as we identify and exclude likely Armed Forces jobs.  

The number of job postings on Indeed.com, whether related to paid or unpaid job solicitations, is not indicative of potential revenue or earnings of Indeed, which comprises a significant percentage of the HR Technology segment of its parent company, Recruit Holdings Co., Ltd. Job posting numbers are provided for information purposes only and should not be viewed as an indicator of performance of Indeed or Recruit. Please refer to the Recruit Holdings investor relations website and regulatory filings in Japan for more detailed information on revenue generation by Recruit’s HR Technology segment.