Tech and media workers are staying put — and other happenings in the world of work

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Catch up on headlines from the last 7 days.

• The U.S. trade deficit widened to a record $948.1 billion last year, according to new Commerce Department data . The gap between what the U.S. imports and exports was up 12.2% from 2021.
• Americans are worried about their finances, according to the latest Gallup poll . About 49% of middle-income households say their current financial situation is worse off than last year — the most since the Great Recession. Rising inflation and interest rates continue to sting, but most households are optimistic about their economic futures.
• High-profile layoffs continued last week, with the likes of Disney cutting 7,000 jobs and Zoom slashing 1,300.
• “Green” jobs are on the rise, with companies announcing more than 100,000 clean energy jobs since the passage of an August bill aimed at slashing the country’s climate emissions. Georgia, Arizona and Michigan are currently at the forefront of this push.
• Working parents are facing a childcare crisis. The U.S. has about 58,000 fewer daycare workers today than it did in early 2020. Daycares have been forced to hike fees to attract new workers bringing the median price of daycare up to $17,500 in major metro areas.
• The Super Bowl was a big money maker for Phoenix. It was expected to generate approximately $600 million for the city — and of the 100,000 attendants, 80% to 90% were from outside the Phoenix area, according to estimates.

Tech and media workers are actually staying put

• The recent wave of layoffs in tech and media isn’t resulting in those workers heading to other industries at higher rates. New data suggests that technology, information and media workers have actually become more averse to switching industries over the last few quarters, Rand Ghayad, LinkedIn’s head of economics and global labor markets, wrote in the latest State of the Labor Market report.?
• The “exodus rate” (defined as the percentage of workers leaving the industry when starting a new position) dropped from a high of 67.4% in June 2022 to just 60% in January 2023. Only the real estate industry saw a larger drop in exodus rates. “It is likely that technology, information and media workers are becoming increasingly wary of leaving roles at traditional technology companies for different industries,” as a “shelter in place” mentality takes root for many workers amid economic uncertainty, Ghayad said.
• The market for tech and media workers is still moderately tight , LinkedIn data shows. Job seekers are still finding that they have more opportunities than before the pandemic and employers are still feeling pressure to expand recruiting and retention efforts. Tech and media workers who do take a new role in a different industry are most likely to end up in professional services (like accounting and consulting) and financial services, which also have moderately tight job markets.

Remote work's on the rise again

• There’s been a surprise uptick in remote work in recent months, according to the latest edition of LinkedIn’s Workforce Confidence Index . The past two months of data show remote’s long, gradual slump reversing. Working onsite has been the most common situation for the U.S. worker since April 2021. In November 2022, there was a 30-point gap between the share of professionals working onsite (55%) versus those working remotely (25%), but now the divergence has narrowed to 22 points.
• Other recent data has painted a gloomier picture for remote work, including a dropoff in remote job listings and news that major cities are seeing office occupancies nudge past 50% of their pre-pandemic levels. This data point could mean remote’s staying power is stronger than realized — or that seasonality plays into where people decide to work. In January 2021, Workforce Confidence data showed a similar brief spike in remote work.
• Fintech entrepreneur Derek Notman commented that as “the pendulum of remote work continues to swing,” it’s a hybrid working model that will reign supreme. It allows employees the flexibility to choose when and where they work but also encourages collaboration. Stanford economist Nick Bloom’s research found that Monday and Friday at home and Tuesday through Thursday at the office could be the post-pandemic norm.

The South is still growing

• The South is still hot . The region outgrew all other U.S. regions by over 1 million people in 2022, according to population estimates from the Census Bureau. Meanwhile, the Northeast and Midwest lost residents, and the West gained residents but not nearly as many as the South.
• The pandemic and rise of remote work kickstarted a trend of migration toward the Sun Belt for lower taxes and better weather. Southern states made up six out of the 10 states with the largest growth last year, led by Texas and Florida, followed by North Carolina and Georgia. LinkedIn’s data falls in line with this — showing that Sun Belt cities also make up seven out of the 10 cities gaining the most people over the last 12 months. Austin, Texas, leads the way, while two cities in Florida and two cities in North Carolina also made the list.
• Heading south “only works as a lifestyle improvement for remote workers because they generally earn more than the local economy will pay,” George H., a Florida-based technician commented . And he’s right when it comes to housing — the influx of new residents meant median home values and average rents spiked in Sun Belt hotspots like Austin and Tampa at the outset of the pandemic. They’re expected to moderate this year.

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

• Tuesday, February 14: The Bureau of Labor Statistics will release the monthly Consumer Price Index for January, which measures inflation through the price of goods and services.
• Wednesday, February 15: The U.S. Census Bureau will release its monthly retail sales report for January. The report is an indicator of consumer spending and general economic activity.
• Wednesday, February 15: LinkedIn Senior Editor at Large George Anders will release his latest edition of Workforce Insights , digging into the hiring rate of HBCU grads by industry.
• Thursday, February 16: 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: February 16: The Bureau of Labor Statistics will release the monthly Producer Price Index . Different from the Consumer Price Index, which lands earlier in the week, the report measures inflation based on costs to those who make products, not those who consume them.
• Thursday, February 16: The U.S. Census Bureau will release the number of new building permits issued by the government in January, which is a key housing market indicator.