Quarterly Industry Report: Jobs & Job Seekers – Q3 2020 [Report]

The U.S. labor market began experiencing unprecedented changes in the second quarter of 2020, as the COVID-19 pandemic impacted nearly every job industry. Looking back at the Q2 edition of iHire’s Quarterly Industry Report: Jobs & Job Seekers, we started to see some of these dramatic changes emerge in mid-March when businesses abruptly shut down, paused hiring efforts, and laid off workers. As a result, the Q3 edition of our report shows a significant decrease in job postings across the board in April. 

However, not every job industry was hit as hard by the pandemic. For example, iHireNursing and iHireLogistics – home to many employers within essential businesses – saw far less of a drop in job postings than iHireDental and iHireChefs. The good news is that the Q3 job market is showing signs of improvement now that organizations are opening their doors and hiring once again.

Here are notable job industry trends from iHire's Q3 2020 report:

• Logistics stays hot: More than 235,980 jobs were added to iHireLogistics in May and June – almost twice the number of jobs added in January and February 2020. This speaks to the increased demand on supply chains and consumer reliance on ecommerce during COVID-19.

• Chef jobs take a hit: The culinary industry perhaps experienced the most turbulence throughout the last three months. Just 20,423 jobs were added to iHireChefs in April (compared to the 64,984 added in January). However, this talent community bounced back in June (46,287 jobs added) when restaurants and foodservice businesses reopened across the nation.

• iHireNursing helps combat COVID: iHireNursing remained our most active talent community in Q2, but that’s not surprising given the rising need for healthcare professionals to combat the pandemic. In fact, more than 1.03 million jobs were added to iHireNursing in Q2 and there were 303,866 active postings as of July 10, 2020.

• Construction poised for a comeback: The number of jobs added to iHireConstruction fell to 55,285 in April – half the amount added in January and February 2020. But, like many other sectors, construction appears to be on the upswing, with 100,381 active jobs as of early July.

• Job seekers are on the hunt: With the exception of iHireAccounting (which stayed the same), every industry analyzed experienced an uptick in active job seekers in Q2 due to widespread layoffs and furloughs. While the circumstances are unfortunate, the increase in active job seekers is music to the ears of employers who are hiring again and need qualified talent fast.

Finding jobs during COVID-19 has certainly been a challenge, but candidates should find some solace in the rising job numbers depicted in our Q3 report. For more job industry trends, access iHire’s Quarterly Industry Report: Jobs & Job Seekers – Q3 2020. For a look back at the first half of the year, check out Q1 and Q2’s reports.

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