BostInno
Workforce Report: Are We Seeing a Shift Towards Manual Jobs?
By: Srividya Kalyanaraman
Ahead of the Labor Department’s February jobs report release on Friday March 8, there are two words that the job market needs to embrace in light of a slowing, moderate pace of growth: cautious optimism.
Even as predictions suggest that the economy added 185,000 jobs, there are signs of a broader slowdown and a tightening labor market.
Image courtesy: LinkedIn Workforce Report
LinkedIn, in its latest workforce report, found that hiring was down 2.9 percent across all industries compared to February 2018 and 0.9 percent down compared to January 2019. Interestingly enough, all industries but, public safety (6.4 percent), software and IT services (4.6 percent) and corporate services (4 percent) which showed growth. Public safety jobs include jobs like correctional officers, paramedics and firefighters. Corporate service jobs include, for example, jobs in finance, administration and business development.
The report also cites that signs of a shift from routine cognitive jobs to non-routine manual jobs.
“Interestingly, non-routine manual jobs – such as drivers and electricians – are increasing in employment share as well, and these jobs may not require college degrees. Where we’re seeing a real decline is routine cognitive jobs, like phone operator or ticket agent,” the report stated.
Specifically, in Boston, hiring was down 2.9 percent compared to February 2018 and down 1.4 percent compared to January 2019. And as cited in February’s workforce report, Boston continues to be in top five cities with the most skills gap.
