In addition to our published research reports, webinars and conferences, Staffing Industry Analysts offers another product that might not be as familiar. Our Excel-based data analysis tools are powerful resources that can help inform your benchmarking and strategic decision-making processes. For firms that want to know which industry verticals are expanding or contracting employment in various regions across the country, the 2016 US Employment Trends by Geography Tool provides the information you need.
Based on data from the Quarterly Census of Employment and Wages program administered by the US Bureau of Labor Statistics, the tool provides figures on 313 detailed industries across 21 sectors for 388 metropolitan areas. It offers tabs that analyze employment growth from 2014 to 2015 by sector (broad), industry (detailed) or both, and allows you to view figures on a national, statewide or local metro area level. As rising overall employment is strongly correlated with staffing demand, this can be a great help in determining what industries or regions might represent missed opportunities for growth.
Perhaps you believe your firm has substantially penetrated your primary market for IT staffing to clients in the manufacturing sector, and are in search of a new vertical on which to focus your business development efforts. Scanning the year-over-year growth rates for nationwide employment on the By Sector tab indicates that, while manufacturing had lackluster jobs growth of 1.1%, the professional and technical services sector showed a more robust 3.1% annual employment gain. Clicking over to the By Sector and Industry tab reveals that the strongest constituent industry in professional and technical services was computer systems design and related services, at 6.4%. This suggests that systems integrators and similar IT services providers, who utilize IT staff augmentation to a significant degree, may constitute a greener pasture for expanding sales.
In another scenario, a regional firm heavily concentrated in the Southeast US may be in search of a new geographic area for expansion of its successful practice supplying IT professionals to finance and insurance sector customers. The first prospect is Salt Lake City, which the By Sector tab tells us had growth of 6.3% in finance and insurance jobs in 2015. This would seem to put it squarely ahead of Minneapolis-St. Paul, which grew jobs in the sector at a lower rate of 4.5%. However, looking at the “jobs added/lost” column, we note that the latter region actually added about 4,645 finance and insurance jobs — well in excess of the 2,601 gained in Salt Lake City. Thus, the firm must determine whether it is better positioned to compete in a larger market with more total demand, but likely a higher level of entrenched competition, or a market that is growing at a faster rate but doing so from a much smaller base.
We encourage those of you who commonly rely on data to drive your operational or strategic initiatives to check out the full range of Excel tools available on our site. Corporate members can download the 2016 US Employment Trends by Geography Tool here.
