The US labor market is thriving and these are the best jobs to go for

The US job market has been making headlines since the pandemic hit. There is always news about the economy crashing, big tech layoffs, or interest rate hikes. Despite all these headlines, the US job market is flourishing, according to the latest data.

However, the fortunes are not divided among job seekers equally. The hiring surge we talk about is only for some sectors, not all. While waiters and bartenders struggle to choose one from the gazillion job postings on job boards, programmers are still waiting for a job ad to come up.

This strong market is a result of the pandemic fears being eased in the minds of consumers and workers alike. This allows employers of customer-facing industries to expand their payroll to meet the growing demand. We will see this hiring surge grow in sectors such as leisure and hospitality and healthcare. These industries still have to catch up to their pre-pandemic employment levels. The sectors which got hit the hardest by the pandemic are becoming the strength of the US job market today.

The momentum of hiring will rebalance the economy towards these client-facing sectors. Here are the jobs that are growing with the hiring boom:

Leisure and hospitality

According to government data, employers added an astonishing 517,000 jobs in January. This is above the average 400,000-odd monthly jobs we have observed for the last year. Nearly one-fourth of these jobs came from the leisure and hospitality sectors. This makes restaurants, bars, hotels, and other related businesses some great places to apply for.

Consumers are shifting back towards their pre-pandemic lifestyles of traveling, eating out, and attending events, which pushes employers to propel hiring in the leisure sector. The Americans, who were stuck in one place for a long time due to the pandemic, are now releasing their pent-up demands. As COVID fears die down, workers are willing to take on jobs that posed a great health risk during the pandemic years.

The accommodations sector created 15,000 new jobs in January. However, 80% of hotels are still facing staffing shortages according to the American Hotel and Lodging Association. The position with the most demand in the accommodations sector is housekeeping.

Healthcare

The healthcare sector contributed almost 10% of the new jobs added last month. This industry is observing a major increase in hiring. Most hires are generated from the ambulance and nursing home workers, according to government data. The healthcare sector was booming during the pandemic. However, only a few jobs that directly dealt with the fight against Covid had heightened demand during those years. The areas which weren’t directly connected to the pandemic had a drop in employment.

Between February 2020 and November 2021, the number of healthcare workers in nursing homes and other healthcare facilities dropped by almost 410,000. Since then, only around 103,000 jobs have been recovered by the healthcare sector.

As the baby boomer generation in the US aged, a larger portion of the US population is now above the age of 65. These people require more medical attention. Almost 17% of the US population is now at retirement age. This figure will reach 20% by 2030. This will make the healthcare sector stronger than ever.

Retail

The Covid pandemic caused a sharp peak in e-commerce, causing a decline in retail jobs and a sudden surge in warehousing employment levels. The retail sector is slowly rebounding back to its pre-pandemic levels now. Last month alone, the retail sector added 30,000 jobs. More than half of those jobs were at general merchandise retailers.