Job Advertisements Predicted January’s Disappointing Jobs Report; They Are Predicting February’s Report To Be Very Strong

by | Feb 8, 2021 | Alternative Data, Labor Market Insights, Pandemic, People Analytics, Recruiting, Talent Analytics

January jobs report
On Friday, the government released its monthly employment report, indicating the US had added a net 49 thousand jobs in January.  This was not unexpected, and Greenwich.HR predicted a tepid report earlier in December as job listing volumes began a steep decline.
But, we can expect a very strong upturn in the February jobs report.
The number of job listings in the US surged throughout January and early February.  Companies posted over 30 percent more job listings in January than pre-pandemic levels.  This is a significant improvement over November and December levels, which declined by 20-40 percent below pre-pandemic levels.  This turnaround in the number of job listings represents an increase of over 50% in less than one month.
This surge in hiring demand bodes well for February hiring figures, and likely March as well.  Job listings typically precede actual hiring by 1-3 months, so most of the jobs companies are advertising for won’t start showing up on payrolls until late January.