What We Can Learn about the Job Market from the LinkedIn Opportunity Index
- Author: William Asher
- Posted: 2024-09-21
What We Can Learn about the Job Market from the LinkedIn Opportunity Index
Each year, the popular professional networking site LinkedIn conducts an international survey. They ask workers how confident they are in their future ability to secure work and a stable financial future. Historically, the United States has been a leader on this list, usually falling at least within the top five. However, the 2020 results just released put the United States at eighth in the world, meaning that people have become more pessimistic about their overall ability to secure work and have a good future. We'll dig into the details to identify specific trends below.
What Countries Beat Out the USA?
The USA still scored higher than the "average" index of 100, at 104 points. This put it in last place in the highest "bracket" established by LinkedIn, called "Above Average Opportunities".
In order from first to seventh, here are the countries that beat out the United States, along with their Opportunity Index scores, as published:
- India, Score: 121
- Indonesia, Score: 117
- China, Score: 116
- United Arab Emirates, Score: 115
- The Philippines, Score: 111
- Mexico, Score: 107
- Brazil, Score: 105
How Are These Results Determined?
Remember, these results are solely based on people's perceptions. They are also comparative in nature, as most people compare their optimism to their experiences in the past few years. The study had controls in place, and it has been peer-reviewed. Any score greater than 100 indicates that a country's citizens believe they have the greatest level of potential opportunity.
What Trends Did This Identify?
LinkedIn's annual report aggregates additional data to help identify trends to help you more effectively navigate the job market. It first identified a trend related to society and jobs' intersection. More than three quarters of people interviewed said that they would benefit from having a better professional network than they currently have, and some had no network at all, either online or offline. However, less than one quarter of respondents indicated they were pursuing a larger network.
This is an unprecedented level of perceived professional isolation. This may harm the job market, since tight networks traditionally create trust, which creates optimism.
It also identified a series of the most common "Opportunity Gaps". These are areas where people across the board feel they specifically lack opportunities. Note that these are not specific to the United States. This is referring to all countries whose citizens participated. Take a look below to learn more about these.
The Largest Opportunity Gaps
The study only identified five major opportunity gap fields. However, they were fairly uniform across the countries studied, and the results are cause for concern. The biggest gap between employees and opportunities is financial status. Yes, that means that people feel they are not wealthy enough to be competitive for job openings! This is the first time that has cropped up, and it's the top barrier.
21% say the job market itself is too difficult. This is largely due to a tight labor market combined with a "ghosting" culture between potential employees and recruiters. 21% also stated that their age was a hindering factor. While US federal law defines "age discrimination" as only applicable to those over 40 years of age, it appears that more barriers lie between younger people and potential jobs.
17% said that a lack of free time caused them to not be able to advance. This is common especially in countries with longer than average workweeks, such as the United States. 14% also said that they personally lacked the confidence necessary to secure positions. The reasons for this being so high are unclear. However, some experts have linked it to the fact that jobs today have stringent lists of requirements that were not present before the Internet became the primary recruiting and listing hub.
Top Trend Takeaways
In short, the United States has fallen a bit down the ladder when it comes to employee optimism. However, while it is in eighth place now, notably it was not beaten out by a single European country. The reasons for that are not clear.
There are new issues facing today's workforce that even surprised seasoned LinkedIn experts. How exactly these issues will be solved is unclear, but one thing is clear: there needs to be more transparent communications between prospective employees and potential employers.
