Here's where this year's Top Companies are hiring — and other happenings in the world of work

Welcome back to The Work Shift, a weekly newsletter that keeps you informed about the economy, labor market and evolving world of work through data-driven insights. Click subscribe to be notified of future editions.

Catch up on the headlines from the last 7 days.

• The best companies to grow your career are hiring all over the country, a new LinkedIn analysis shows. Read more about this below.

• Retail sales jumped last month, the Commerce Department reported , showing that still-hot inflation and high interest rates have yet to pinch consumer spending.
• Airlines expect this summer to break air travel records, according to recent United and Delta earnings calls . The return of corporate travel and a jump in international trips is driving demand.
• Economic forecasts are improving. Even the International Monetary Fund lifted its global economic forecast last week, stating a “soft landing” is possible. The next sign for the U.S. will land Thursday with a preliminary estimate of the first quarter’s gross domestic product.
• Buyers have backed away from the housing market. Existing home sales, which account for more than 90% of the market, dropped 4.3% in March in the biggest monthly decline since 2022. Signs of a more robust economy have been dampening hopes for lower interest rates, which weighs heavily on the housing market.
• Fewer executives are banking on a full return-to-office these days, according to a new KPMG survey . Just one-third of CEOs expect their workforce to head into the office daily now, compared to two-thirds of CEOs last year. They’re warming up to hybrid work instead.
• Workers’ average salary expectations to take a new job just hit a high of $82,000, according to a recent survey from the New York Federal Reserve. That’s an 8% increase from a year ago.

Take a closer look at recent trending topics — and engage with meaningful conversations happening on LinkedIn.

The hiring hubs for the best companies to grow your career

• LinkedIn just released its annual Top Companies ranking , revealing the 50 best large workplaces to grow your career in the U.S. While those organizations are staffing up in expected hiring hubs like New York and San Francisco, a new analysis from LinkedIn’s Economic Graph team shows they’re also snapping up talent all over the country. You can see the full list of ranked employers here .
• Consider Boston, where hiring is up 20.9% year-over-year. Companies including PwC (No. 5), Moderna (No. 9), Procter & Gamble (No. 22) and more are all hiring in the area. Other popular places where Top Companies are hiring include Dallas, Chicago and Atlanta.
• If none of these locales sound appealing to you but you’re still looking to work somewhere with opportunities for advancement, you could still be in luck. Many job postings at Top Companies in 2023 were for roles with remote and hybrid capabilities, particularly in the financial, professional services and healthcare sectors.

The state of the green workforce

• One in eight workers have at least one green skill, according to a 2023 analysis from LinkedIn's Economic Graph. Those include sustainable design, energy efficiency, agronomy, environmental awareness, erosion control and more. What’s more? The need for such skills is on the rise. LinkedIn job postings requiring at least one green skill grew by a median of 15.2% between 2022 and 2023.
• Plus, those with green skills might have more attractive resumes to hiring managers as corporations continue to navigate complex challenges regarding ESG and corporate responsibility. The median LinkedIn hiring rate for workers with at least one green skill is 29% higher than the workforce average. Emerging job titles making ample use of these skills include sustainability manager, energy auditor environment health safety manager and sustainability analyst.?
• If you don’t have the perfect skill set yet, “don’t be afraid to acknowledge what you’ll need to learn on the job,” when applying for roles, energy professional Joel Bernsten commented . “There are more energy and sustainability based products and services these days and many high quality organizations are seeking talent that can bring an ‘outside perspective’ or new way of thinking into their business.”

The middle manager’s workload

• People managers are stretched too thin. The average number of direct reports a middle manager has increased by 2.8 times over the last six years, according to recent research from Gartner.?
• The pile-on means managers are accountable for 51% more responsibilities than they are comfortable with — and leads to many reporting work-induced stress (54%) and a feeling of struggling to perform well on the job (44%). The result? One in five said they would willingly give up people management altogether. Experts say employers can mitigate this by providing management training, pairing managers with direct reports with similar working arrangements and styles and communicating the company and team’s goals clearly.?
• Executive coach Mike Fisher said struggling middle managers should also focus on honing their emotional intelligence. “In the end, our own health and leadership effectiveness is going to keep coming back to awareness of ourselves and others, and empathy, again for ourselves and others.”

Get ready for the week by seeing what’s coming up.

Tuesday, April 23:

• The U.S. Census Bureau will release key housing market indicators, including the number of new single-family homes sold and the number of new building permits issued by the government in March.

Wednesday, April 24:

• The U.S. Census Bureau will release its monthly report on durable goods orders, which measures manufacturing activity.

Thursday, April 25:

• The U.S. Department of Labor will release initial jobless claims for the previous week. The report, a proxy for layoffs, tracks the number of people filing for unemployment benefits.
• The Bureau of Economic Analysis will release a preliminary gross domestic product estimate for the first quarter of 2024.

Friday, April 26:

• The U.S. Department of Commerce will release March’s Personal Consumption Expenditure Price Index — the Fed’s preferred inflation measure. The report measures changes in the price of goods and services, excluding food and energy.
• The University of Michigan will release its reading of April’s Consumer Sentiment Index, which measures how Americans feel about current and future economic conditions.

Rachel Cromidas contributed to this newsletter.