Skills-first hiring strategies could boost businesses — and other happenings in the world of work

Welcome back to The Work Shift, a weekly newsletter that will keep you informed about the economy, labor market and evolving world of work through data-driven insights. We’re taking a short summer break and will publish our next edition on July 17. Click subscribe to be notified.

Catch up on headlines from the last 7 days.

• Businesses embracing a skills-based hiring strategy could have a competitive advantage, new LinkedIn data suggests. Read more about this below.
• Jobless claims came in at the highest level since October 2021 for a second consecutive week, signaling a loosening labor market. The increase comes amid layoffs in banking and tech.
• The U.S. is going gray, a new Census Bureau report found. The nation’s median age is at a record high — 38.9 years — up from just 30 in 1980. The aging workforce is already driving a persistent labor shortage.
• Men are returning to in-person work at a faster clip than women, according to a recent survey from the Bureau of Labor Statistics. One reason? Women tend to carry out more housework and childcare duties.
• Small business owners are having a hard time finding already-skilled talent. According to a recent survey from the National Federation of Independent Business, labor quality is in the top two concerns for owners, along with inflation.
• Math scores among America’s 13-year-olds took the biggest plunge on record this year, according to the National Assessment of Educational Progress. The drop shows that even two years after returning to in-person classes, the post-pandemic academic recovery hasn’t happened yet.
• Homebuilders are on pace to add more housing units in 2023 than any year since 2007 — likely in response to limited inventory in the resale market, despite rising building costs — according to the Census Bureau’s latest housing starts report.

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

Skills-based talent strategies could boost businesses

• Almost half of companies on LinkedIn are using skills-related metrics to find job candidates, up 12% from a year ago. And businesses that are embracing that gradual shift to a skills-first hiring strategy could have a competitive edge, new LinkedIn data found.?
• Doing away with degree requirements can bring more diversity to talent pools — expanding pipelines by nearly 10 times — and ultimately boost retention. Why? Workers are most likely to value opportunities for career growth and upskilling even more than they value work-life balance, meaning they want to stay with companies that prioritize and invest in their learning and development. Shannon Davis, a learning strategy researcher, noted that companies that take inventory of necessary skills — and how to impart them — also create a stronger chance for internal mobility among employees, another retention-driving strategy. Companies have a nearly 7% higher retention rate at the three-year mark among employees who have learned skills on the job.
• Retention isn’t the only reason to double down on a skills-based talent strategy, the data suggests. Ongoing economic uncertainty means companies with the most nimble workforces have the best shot at success. “Skill sets for jobs have changed about 25% since 2015, and that percentage is on pace to double by 2027,” LinkedIn VP Aneesh Raman explained to the MIT Sloan Management Review. “Making skills core to your company’s strategy will set your workforce up for long-term resilience in a world where all of our jobs keep changing.”

The leadership gender gap widens

• Continued economic uncertainty seems to be wiping out progress on gender equality, another new LinkedIn analysis found. Women hold almost half of all entry-level roles worldwide, but that proportion drops dramatically in the jump to the C-suite, where women only hold a quarter of roles.
• What’s more? Headway on that gender gap is being reversed. The share of women in leadership positions is declining in most major economies around the world, including in the U.S. This is happening across industries, but the starkest drop is in the technology and professional services sectors. At this rate, it could take 131 years for the gender gap to close. “The good news is that there are a number of practical steps that companies can take to help close the gender gap and make workplaces more equitable,” Sue Duke , LinkedIn’s head of global public policy, commented.?
• Those steps include incorporating inclusive hiring practices — like evaluating skills and not just pedigree — and then creating career growth opportunities for women in early management roles. More flexible working arrangements could also help women, as many take on additional home and childcare responsibilities. Consider Amber Logsdon, a client services team lead at a software development company, for example. Now a mother, she has to strike more of a balancing act between home and work. “While I am still in a leadership role… I will not entertain 60+ hours in my work week only to see my family suffer for it,” she commented. “I still work hard, but there is a balance.”

Remote and hybrid work reign in certain cities

• The U.S. workforce is still pursuing a flexible work culture, according to a recent LinkedIn study. Remote and hybrid roles attracted 66% of applications on the platform in May, even as those postings dwindled.?
• Giant metros are prime for job seekers interested in hybrid work. New York City, Boston, Chicago are among the prime locations for hybrid work, based on applications over the past 12 months. In areas with “high costs of living and high gas prices, hybrid work seems more feasible economically,” Katheryn Campos, a financial professional, commented. She also noted that pandemic-prompted improvements in remote work setups make splitting time possible and preferable. Metro areas with strong university presences, like Urbana-Champaign, Illinois, and Binghamton, New York, are also in the mix.
• Job seekers are most likely to apply for remote work in Bend, Oregon, a popular haven for digital nomads. Sales professional @Kyle Lindquist commented that he moved his family to Bend from San Francisco during the pandemic and still enjoys working remotely from the area. One bonus? “Access to a great little airport with 50 minute flights to San Francisco when you need to get back to the Bay Area for work,” he said. Bend is followed by a number of metros in the Carolinas, Florida and several northwestern locales.

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

• Tuesday, June 27: The U.S. Census Bureau will release the number of new building permits issued by the government in May, which is a key housing market indicator.
• Tuesday, June 27: The National Association of REALTORS? will release its monthly home sales report, which measures the number of existing homes that were sold in May.
• Tuesday, June 27: The April edition of the S&P CoreLogic Case-Shiller National Home Price Index, which measures home prices across the country, will be released.
• Tuesday, June 27: The Conference Board will release its monthly Consumer Confidence Survey, which measures how optimistic Americans are about the economy.
• Wednesday, June 28: LinkedIn Senior Editor at Large George Anders will release his latest edition of Workforce Insights, looking at the job functions where workers are most and least likely to think AI can help them get ahead in their career.
• Thursday, June 29: 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.
• Thursday, June 29: The U.S. Department of Commerce will release an estimate of first-quarter domestic product.
• Friday, June 30: The U.S. Department of Commerce will release the 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.
• Friday, June 30: The University of Michigan will release its reading of June’s Consumer Sentiment Index, which measures how Americans feel about current and future economic conditions.