Every week, we will be publishing labor market industry (LMI) data and important trends to consider in the development of an equitable economic recovery from the COVID-19 crisis. We are always looking for opportunities to learn, grow, and collaborate. Email wpsi@universitycity.org to learn more.
Last week, we took a close look at how one company, Amazon, is singlehandedly altering the availability of jobs in the retail sector. This week, we are going to highlight some smaller but equally important shifts from other major Philadelphia employers.
To begin, we looked at the number of job postings in the City of Philadelphia, sorted by company, in our baseline week ending February 15th, and compared it to the week ending June 27th. We also filtered out job postings that explicitly required a bachelor’s degree or higher, since the total number of postings in BA+ occupations has seen a sharp decline, while lower wage jobs postings have recovered more quickly. (For more, see our blog post from June 22nd).
Back in mid-February, the ten companies with the most postings requiring less than a bachelor’s degree posted a total of 451 jobs. By June 27th, the same companies posted only a combined 179 jobs, a 61% decrease. Some amount of this change can be attributed to seasonality or individual business decisions, but looking at the companies listed we see the steep declines have come from companies in the Hospitality, IT, and Healthcare sectors, some of the industries most impacted by COVID-19 shutdowns.
Business | Feb. 15th | Jun. 27th |
Aramark | 80 | 4 |
Penn Medicine | 64 | 43 |
Elsevier | 62 | 0 |
Health Care Service Corporation | 56 | 0 |
University of Pennsylvania | 43 | 9 |
Thomas Jefferson University & Jefferson Health | 39 | 61 |
University of Pennsylvania Health System | 30 | 8 |
IBM | 29 | 33 |
Wells Fargo | 24 | 14 |
Children’s Hospital of Philadelphia | 24 | 7 |
Total: | 451 | 179 |
Next, we looked at the same chart but with the dates reversed. These companies posted the most jobs with sub-BA requirements in the week ending June 27th. Just like with the first set of companies, seasonal differences can account for some change, but this basket of companies saw their postings increase by 82% since February. A few names appear on both lists, including anchor institutions like Penn Medicine and Jefferson University, plus big firms like IBM and Wells Fargo. The companies with the biggest jumps include the Philadelphia Nanny Network (in-home child care), Allied Universal (Security), and Endeavor Agency (Staffing), all of which reflect the massive changes in work during COVID-19.
Business | Feb. 15th | Jun. 27th |
Philadelphia Nanny Network Incorporated | 0 | 72 |
Penn Medicine | 64 | 43 |
Thomas Jefferson University | 19 | 35 |
IBM | 29 | 33 |
Thomas Jefferson University & Jefferson Health | 39 | 61 |
Endeavor Agency | 0 | 26 |
Allied Universal | 19 | 35 |
Restaurant Depot | 0 | 19 |
Temple University Health System | 0 | 16 |
Wells Fargo | 24 | 14 |
Total | 194 | 354 |
Even as the total number of job postings continues to improve, it is important to remember that labor is less “elastic” than business. The market changes quickly, but individual workers need time to train and learn different skills as job availability changes, not to mention ensuring that work is meaningful and fulfilling. The challenge faced by institutions, policy makers, and workforce development professionals is to both recognize the speed at which work is changing and to equip workers with the tools and skills necessary to make those shifts. Much like COVID-19 has sped up the shift from brick and mortar to online retail by 3-5 years, it will also hasten changes already playing out in the labor market. One of our goals at the West Philadelphia Skills Initiative is to ensure we are evolving, too, to keep pace with the changes in the employment landscape.
| This Week | Change from baseline (Feb. 15th) | Chance from prior week (Jun. 27th) | ||||
Industry, 2-digit NAICS code | Phila Metro | Phila City | Phila Metro | Phila City | Phila Metro | Phila City | |
Health Care & Social Asst. (62) | 3463 | 1165 | -20% | -20% | 9% | 8% | |
Prof, Scientific and Tech Services (54) | 1027 | 460 | -26% | -26% | -2% | 7% | |
Retail Trade (44-45) | 2209 | 216 | 47% | 17% | -7% | -8% | |
Finance & Insurance (52) | 997 | 270 | -27% | -32% | 5% | 0% | |
Accommodation & Food (72) | 1457 | 359 | 35% | -7% | 44% | 40% | |
Manufacturing (31-33) | 1037 | 194 | -12% | -9% | 10% | -6% | |
Admin, Support, Waste MGMT, Remediation (56) | 846 | 210 | -14% | -2% | 21% | 26% | |
Educational Services (61) | 667 | 314 | -21% | -14% | 17% | 43% | |
Transportation & Warehousing (48-49) | 675 | 124 | -12% | 14% | 47% | -27% | |
Information (51) | 416 | 157 | -16% | -19% | 70% | 118% | |
Other Services (81) | 546 | 107 | -2% | 51% | 56% | 70% | |
Public Admin (92) | 229 | 124 | -35% | -14% | -16% | 43% | |
Real Estate & Rental Leasing (53) | 459 | 108 | 65% | 1% | 18% | -2% | |
Construction (23) | 310 | 62 | -9% | 27% | -1% | -32% | |
Arts, Entertainment & Recreation (71) | 283 | 71 | 64% | 78% | 123% | 61% | |
Wholesale Trade (42) | 73 | 199 | -9% | 1321% | 52% | 3217% | |
Utilities (22) | 52 | 10 | 53% | -9% | 37% | 11% | |
Mining, Quarrying, Oil & Gas Extraction (21) | 49 | 14 | 69% | 100% | 158% | 367% | |
Management, Companies & Enterprises (55) | 28 | 4 | 75% | -20% | -3% | -43% | |
Agriculture, Forestry, Fishing and Hunting (11) | 20 | 3 | -26% | -57% | 54% | 0% | |
Unspecified | 4057 | 1469 | -13% | -1% | -4% | 1% | |
Total | 18900 | 5640 | -8% | -7 | 9% | 13% | |
About the data: Data is sourced from Burning Glass Technologies Labor Insights, unless otherwise noted, covering job postings in the City of Philadelphia and the Philadelphia Metro Statistical Area (MSA), which is comprised of roughly a circle surrounding Trenton, Philadelphia, King of Prussia, Camden, and Wilmington. This data is then compared to a benchmark week of February 9th – 15th, which was the last week before the economic impact of COVID-19 began to be reflected in job posting data.
