iCIMS March Workforce Report: Applications rise, hiring falls

April 3, 2023

 

Amy Byrnes

4 min read

This month’s Workforce Report reveals that job applicant interest is on the rise, but not much else. The job market continues to reflect an unpredictable economy that’s leading to a slowdown in worker demand.

This February, we saw job applications rise 26%, but hires drop 7%. Meanwhile, job openings essentially jogged in place with no movement. The absence of a hiring boom following last month’s findings is very telling of the current job market.

“After the surge of employer and applicant activity we saw at the start of this year, February saw a drop in hiring Indicators across the board. January was the highest applicant volume in more than a year. And even with this drop, February still had the third highest month of applicant volume since the start of 2022,” said Rhea Moss, Direct of iCIMS Insights.

“With these numbers, we’d historically expect to see some kind of hiring happening. But a rush to hire did not follow the spike in openings and applications.”

Here are some of the latest labor market activity and trends from the iCIMS March Workforce Report to inform your strategies.

Where are the jobs?

No matter where you’re looking for a job, every region in the US – Northeast, South, West and Midwest – is experiencing a lag in hiring.

The largest decline was in the West, which dipped 12% this past month. Interestingly, this stacks up with recent news about talent exiting California, where many technology corporations are headquartered.

If you’re searching for the ideal US region to locate a job, consider the Midwest. The Midwest had the lowest dip in hiring rate across the US at only 3%, with the Northeast as the runner-up at 5%.

Out-of-state hiring trends

Speaking of identifying work across the country, the out-of-state applicant and hiring trends continue to shake up expectations.

Even after reports of employees returning to the office full-time, out-of-state applications and hires have continued to rise. In fact, out-of-state hires represented 22% of all applicants over the last three months – and 11% of all applications in February 2023.

Tech jobs are still sought-after

Interest in the tech job market is still very high. Applications for these roles are up a whopping 51% from where they were in January 2022.

The intense interest in tech jobs is creating higher competition among applicants. On average, tech jobs now receive 36 applicants per opening (APO). This is roughly 50% higher than overall labor market APO, at 24%.

It’s likely that at some of the renewed interest in tech jobs is a result of the recent tech layoffs. Time will tell if these numbers stay high, or if the current boom is a reflection of those who are #opentowork and looking for new jobs.

Additional insights

Eager for more? For a deeper look into hiring trends and real-time changes in the labor market, check out the full March Workforce Report.