Rover is extensively focused on jobs data, and there is no denying that the past two years have been turbulent for the economy to say the least. Recruitment is an ever-changing field, but the pandemic has caused rapid changes throughout the job market – many of which are likely to continue, even after COVID is under control.
It is often fascinating to take a look at the past year’s data and see how the market has changed. Using Rover, we ran some analysis to see what the top and bottom performing industries were in 2021. While some will not be a surprise, given the effects of COVID, others are very surprising:
Getting Started: Average Industry Growth
There is some noise in the data when we take a look at the average amount of growth based on job openings, because within that data are many new and shifting businesses, companies that are re-hiring after layoffs, and so on. For example, if a restaurant closed and laid off its staff, and a new restaurant opened in its place and hired all new staff, that is going to increase the number of job openings.
But we can still use this information set up a baseline. Across all industries, there was a 53.4% increase in new job openings, on average, between 2020 and 2021.
Top Hiring Industries
When we take a look at the industries that saw the greatest number of new openings, the following are the top 5:
- Legal
- HR and Recruitment
- Marketing and Communications
- Consulting and Strategy
- Hospitality and Tourism
Perhaps the most surprising on this list is the legal profession, which saw its job openings nearly double in 2021 compared to 2020. Clearly, the market for legal services is strong.
HR and Recruitment is also interesting, but perhaps not surprising. After so many layoffs in 2020, and so much difficulty in finding employees in this tight labor market, many companies appear to be looking for help.
Consulting and strategy are also sensible here, as – in the absence of hiring new employees – many businesses likely depend now on consultants.
Finally, hospitality and tourism took a hard, hard hit in 2020, so their growth is also to be expected.
Worst Performing Industries
Most businesses have seen more jobs open in 2021 compared to 2020, as the economy improves. But there were some industries that still are struggling. These include:
- Mining
- Accounting
- Insurance
- Banking/Financial Services
- Self-Employment
One could argue that all of these jobs are surprising. There shouldn’t be any clear reason that the banking sector or the insurance sector would not be able to see similar growth as other industries, but many of them actually saw fewer openings in 2021 compared to 2020. In addition, while there has been a media narrative that many are quitting their jobs to be self-employed, the data doesn’t support this.
Why do you think these industries haven’t improved? Let us know your thoughts in the comments.
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