LinkedIn just published its U.S. Emerging Jobs Report for 2018, measuring the fastest growing jobs and skills nationwide.
Banking off an economic boom, the takeaways from the professional social network’s latest report tout big numbers for wage growth matched by a strong job market. LinkedIn says the race to recruit highly-skilled talent is especially competitive going into 2019.
Yet, it’s debatable as to how long this run will last. Unemployment in the U.S. fell to 3.7% in September—the lowest point in almost 50 years. But as Fortune‘s Geoff Colvin pointed out the following month, whenever unemployment has dipped this low in the past 60 years, a recession inevitably follows and inflation surges.
Federal Reserve Chairman Jerome Powell also warned in November that the current immigration crisis and reducing the number of immigrants allowed to enter the country and gain employment could slow the economy in the long run as it will prohibit growth in the U.S. labor force.
The report, based on data from LinkedIn’s Economic Graph and Talent Insights analytics platform, tracks roles that companies are rapidly hiring for, the skills associated with those jobs, and new roles that have emerged over the last five years. Here’s a rundown on the top findings from the report:
Top Five Emerging Jobs
- Blockchain Developer (33x growth)
- Machine Learning Engineer (12x growth)
- Application Sales Executive (8x growth)
- Machine Learning Specialist (6x growth)
- Professional Medical Representative (6x growth)
Top Five In-Demand Skills (Biggest Skills Gap)
- Oral Communications
- People Management
- Social Media
- Development Tools
- Business Management
Top Five Majors for Professionals in Emerging Jobs
- Business Administration and Management
- Psychology
- General Studies
- Accounting
- Marketing
Top Five Fastest Growing Job Titles (by hire)
- Software Engineer: Current Job Openings: 80,000+
- Account Executive: Current Job Openings: 16,000+
- Realtor: Current Job Openings: 2,000+
- Account Manager: Current Job Openings: 17,000+
- Recruiter: Current Job Openings: 8,000+
Maybe not a surprise given the buzz surrounding it the last few years but especially palpable in 2018, artificial intelligence dominated the LinkedIn charts with six out of 15 emerging jobs related to the field.
Nevertheless, openings for well-established and necessary roles in any office space, such as administrative assistants, are still growing at a rapid clip as basic skills such as time management and oral communication continue to be cited as some of the most in-demand skills.
Predicting what 2019 will look like for businesses has been difficult given the ongoing trade war between the Trump Administration and China. Even with a 90-day reprieve from increasing tariffs, many American companies are trying to prepare investors to brace themselves for a lackluster 2019.
