Is your career in demand in the US? These are the sectors with the most job postings in 2024
While hiring has slowed from its breakneck speed US employers continue to take on new hires. Here are the jobs that are currently most in demand.
US employers continue to take on new hires at a robust rate. September became the 45th straight month of job growth when the Bureau of Labor Statistics reported that the economy added 245,000 new payrolls. According to the agency, employment in food services and drinking places, health care, government, social assistance, and construction continued to trend up.
While job postings had been declining, since May, they have remained stable at 11% to 13% above pre-pandemic levels according to the US Indeed Job Postings Index. In a new analysis of the data, Cory Stahle, an Economist at the Indeed Hiring Lab, says “this recent stabilization suggests that the cooling of the US labor market has paused, leaving job seekers with more opportunities on average than they had before the pandemic. “
However, he also says “averages don’t tell the whole story,” and that there are some jobs that are more in demand nowadays than others.
Is your career in demand in the US? These are the sectors with the most job postings in 2024
Indeed found that number of job postings in the tech sector, for positions such as information design & documentation and software development, remain roughly 30% below the amount that there were in 2020. At the other end of the spectrum, the number of job postings in healthcare-related fields were over 80% above pre-pandemic levels.
The following positions are the most in demand:
| Type of job | Demand compared to 2020 |
|---|---|
| Physicians and surgeons | +87% |
| Therapy | +82% |
| Personal care and home health | +67% |
| Civil engineering | +65% |
| Sports | +48% |
The following positions are the least in demand:
| Type of job | Demand compared to 2020 |
|---|---|
| Software development | -31% |
| Information design and documentation | -31% |
| Media and communications | -23% |
| Mathematics | -23% |
| Marketing | -22% |
While this latest data might seem like bad news for those in software development Stahle says that “there are signs of a potential turning point.”
In recent months, work-from-home postings, which have been dropping since 2022, have begun to stabilize. While “there are no signs of a major rebound” says the Indeed economist “the recent plateau is encouraging.” He says, “it is a sign that more opportunities may be on the horizon.”
This leveling out trend is also appearing in low- and middle-remote roles, however, he says there is more variation in those categories. Demand for logistic support has risen by 16% in the last four months while that for veterinary positions has dropped by 13%, both of which are in the low-remote sector.
The same was visible in the middle-remote sector with the reduction of job postings for education & instruction by 13% offsetting the gain of 12% in therapy postings.