Need a job? This Texas city is desperately looking for workers

While it’s no surprise that the job market is booming – with openings outranking available workers for two months in a row (according to March and April’s job reports) – the most astonishing part may be which cities and sectors are falling into a labor predicament because of it.

According to LinkedIn’s new Workforce Report, Houston’s skill surplus is tightening up and it’s desperately looking for people to fill oil and energy jobs. Data shows that workers with petroleum, engineering and geology skills have reduced in the city from more than 16,000 people in February 2016, to fewer than 14,000 people in February 2018.

And, while oil and energy jobs have increased more than 5% nationally in the last year through May, with oil prices at their highest since December 2014, the numbers are more than double in Houston, up 12.4%.

“This is another signal that hiring is starting to pick up in a meaningful way for Houstonians as its core industry restabilizes,” the report said.

But it’s not just the oil and energy industries that are suffering in the city. Other skill shortages have also been reported in marketing event management, construction and non-profit fundraising.

Another key driver for the labor shortage could be from the aftermath of Hurricane Harvey that hit the city last summer.

However, nationally, hiring is up across all U.S. industries, rising 4.5% in May from last year. Key sectors such as aerospace, automotive and transportation all rose 7.5% in May compared to last year, followed by finance and insurance which are up 6.4%.