Industries Where Job Openings Are Increasing And Decreasing Most

Canva

After battling months of persistent inflation, the Federal Reserve announced in May 2023 that it would hike interest rates for the 10th consecutive time. At the same time, wages continued to grow—a sign that perhaps the economy isn’t cooling as quickly as the Federal Reserve would like.

The job market also remained strong, with employers adding 253,000 jobs in April 2023. In March 2023, the number of open jobs fell to 9.6 million—down nearly 4% from February and down more than 20% from March 2022, Bureau of Labor Statistics data shows.

To find out which industries are driving the job market, Stacker used data from the Bureau of Labor Statistics’ Job Openings and Labor Turnover report to see which industries grew job openings in March and which saw open positions shrink. Industries are ranked by the percent change in job openings from March 2022 to 2023. Monthly data is preliminary.

The bureau records job openings on the last business day of the month and calculates the rate as a percent of total employment plus job openings within the industry. Read through the list to gather a snapshot of the economic activity across categories—from retail to health care to manufacturing and more.

Monkey Business Images // Shutterstock

#17. Retail trade

– Total job openings, March 2023: 717,000
— Annual change: -619,000 (down 46.3%)
— One-month change: -84,000 (down 10.5%)
– Job openings rate: 4.4%

Almonroth // Wikimedia Commons

#16. Information

– Total job openings, March 2023: 184,000
— Annual change: -70,000 (down 27.6%)
— One-month change: 15,000 (up 8.9%)
– Job openings rate: 5.6%

angellodeco // Shutterstock

#15. Professional and business services

– Total job openings, March 2023: 1.7 million
— Annual change: -632,000 (down 26.9%)
— One-month change: -135,000 (down 7.3%)
– Job openings rate: 7.0%

Canva

#14. Manufacturing

– Total job openings, March 2023: 693,000
— Annual change: -212,000 (down 23.4%)
— One-month change: -14,000 (down 2.0%)
– Job openings rate: 5.1%

Unsplash

#13. Health care and social assistance

– Total job openings, March 2023: 1.6 million
— Annual change: -471,000 (down 22.5%)
— One-month change: -71,000 (down 4.2%)
– Job openings rate: 7.1%

Canva

#12. Mining and logging

– Total job openings, March 2023: 33,000
— Annual change: -7,000 (down 17.5%)
— One-month change: -6,000 (down 15.4%)
– Job openings rate: 4.9%

Pixabay

#11. Construction

– Total job openings, March 2023: 341,000
— Annual change: -72,000 (down 17.4%)
— One-month change: -63,000 (down 15.6%)
– Job openings rate: 4.1%

Canva

#10. Wholesale trade

– Total job openings, March 2023: 291,000
— Annual change: -43,000 (down 12.9%)
— One-month change: 0 (up 0.0%)
– Job openings rate: 4.6%

Canva

#9. Accommodation and food services

– Total job openings, March 2023: 1.3 million
— Annual change: -175,000 (down 12.0%)
— One-month change: 75,000 (up 6.2%)
– Job openings rate: 8.3%

Financial Times // Wikimedia Commons

#8. Finance and insurance

– Total job openings, March 2023: 345,000
— Annual change: -41,000 (down 10.6%)
— One-month change: 14,000 (up 4.2%)
– Job openings rate: 4.9%

Pixabay

#7. Transportation, warehousing, and utilities

– Total job openings, March 2023: 435,000
— Annual change: -51,000 (down 10.5%)
— One-month change: -144,000 (down 24.9%)
– Job openings rate: 5.6%

create jobs 51 // Shutterstock

#6. Federal government

– Total job openings, March 2023: 126,000
— Annual change: 1,000 (up 0.8%)
— One-month change: -14,000 (down 10.0%)
– Job openings rate: 4.2%

Mwabonje // Pexels

#5. Arts, entertainment, and recreation

– Total job openings, March 2023: 221,000
— Annual change: 3,000 (up 1.4%)
— One-month change: 3,000 (up 1.4%)
– Job openings rate: 8.3%

Andrea Izzotti // Shutterstock

#4. State and local government, excluding education

– Total job openings, March 2023: 595,000
— Annual change: 10,000 (up 1.7%)
— One-month change: 50,000 (up 9.2%)
– Job openings rate: 6.1%

rawpixel.com // Shutterstock

#3. Real estate and rental and leasing

– Total job openings, March 2023: 141,000
— Annual change: 4,000 (up 2.9%)
— One-month change: 11,000 (up 8.5%)
– Job openings rate: 5.5%

Monkey Business Images // Shutterstock

#2. State and local education

– Total job openings, March 2023: 327,000
— Annual change: 18,000 (up 5.8%)
— One-month change: -4,000 (down 1.2%)
– Job openings rate: 3.0%

Irina.stelea // Wikimedia Commons

#1. Educational services

– Total job openings, March 2023: 212,000
— Annual change: 26,000 (up 14.0%)
— One-month change: 28,000 (up 15.2%)
– Job openings rate: 5.1%

Data reporting by Paxtyn Merten. Story editing by Jeff Inglis. Copy editing by Tim Bruns.