JOB LENS
Industry & Job Trends
Data Visualisation
Purva Tekkar, Tiffany Li, Marianna Nam, Patricia Ho
INTRODUCTION
The primary purpose of our visualization is to provide an overview of the landscape of the job market in the United States in recent years and display job-related data that can help people assess different industries and occupations, whether they are actively seeking jobs or simply curious about employment trends. Our data comes from the U.S. Bureau of Labor Statistics (BLS), focusing primarily on Job Openings and Labor Turnover Survey (JOLTS) and Employment Projections (EP) data.
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This visualisation is intended to help users:
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Understand how the overall hiring landscape in the U.S. has changed over time
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Compare salary across different industries/ occupations and education levels
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Explore the projected growth/ decline of job openings across industries
1
Hiring Across Industries 2013-2023
How have overall employment trends changed across time?
Four major components of employment include job openings, hires, quits, and layoffs. The visualization below depicts the overall trends of these components across the period 2013 to 2023. We can easily identify outliers such as the sudden jump in layoffs in early 2020 as well as the rapid increase in job openings in 2021 and subsequent decrease in 2022 and 2023.
Historical information displayed in the annotations provides context and possible explanations for the trends we see, such as the introduction of COVID in the US leading to an increase in layoffs during 2020 and the start of the Great Resignation leading to an increase in quits at the beginning of 2021.
How has the number of hires in different industries changed across time?
One variable that individuals may consider when applying for jobs is the potential opportunity, or number of hires, within different industries of interest. As seen in the previous visualization, there are some interesting trends in hiring across the period 2013 to 2023, especially during the year 2020.
The visualization below focuses specifically on the number of hires across various industries with each color representing a different industry. We are able to see the number of hires for each industry as well as the aggregate number of hires across all industries at any point in time. We’re able to identify recent trends in hiring as well as historical trends to evaluate fit and potential job opportunities within different industries.
2
Annual Hiring across the U.S. in 2020-2023
How does the hiring rate vary across the United States, and how has this changed over the years?
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Location is typically a big consideration when it comes to finding job opportunities, and hiring patterns can vary greatly depending on location. The map below illustrates differences in the average annual hiring rate in different parts of the United States in the years 2020 to 2023, with the darker blue shades representing higher hiring rates.
By clicking through the years, we can see which states have seen more significant increases or decreases in hiring across time. In general, it appears that states in the West have seen a downward trend in average annual hiring (e.g. Nevada went from 6.2 in 2020 to 5.0 in 2022), whereas Southern states have seen an overall upward trend in the recent years (e.g. Georgia went from 4.5 in 2020 to 5.5 in 2022).
3
Median Annual Wages in 2022
What were the median annual wages in 2022?
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Education and salary play crucial roles in determining potential career paths. Historical wage data can serve as a foundational tool for job seekers to make well-informed decisions regarding long-term career planning. These decisions include:
1) establishing practical salary expectations,
2) evaluating earning potential across various industries and occupations, and
3) assessing the impact of educational factors on income in different fields.
In the visualizations below, job seekers can analyze and compare 2022 median annual salaries and education levels across 15 diverse industries. The first visualization compiles salary ranges for various industries and the second examines over 700+ specific occupations with the search and filter features.
4
Employment Projections from 2022-2032
How would employment opportunities look like in 2032 across the industries and occupations?
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Looking at the changing job trends with new innovations like AI, increased dependency on automation, job seekers want to be able to predict what job growth would look like in the coming years.
In the visualizations below, job seekers can see the employment projections for each industry on three different levels:
1. The projected change percentage gives a prediction about the growth and decline of a particular industry in the next decade in 2032.
2. Next, industry level change could be observed visualising how each industry data points are moving from the year 2022 to 2032 and how different industries compare to the number of employment opportunities they have.
3. Lastly, occupation level job opportunities can be explored by using filters to look up the desired job.