Austin Job Postings Report January 2017
Posted on 02/08/2017 by Kwee Lan Teo
AUSTIN JOB POSTINGS REPORT JANUARY 2017
AUSTIN - ROUND ROCK - SAN MARCOS MSA
(DECEMBER 14, 2016 to JANUARY 13, 2017)
austinchamber.com/jobpostings
INSIGHTS
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Approximately 34,200 Available Job Postings during the monthly reporting period, a decrease of 2,500 postings compared to the same period last year.
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Largest year-to-year decreases in the Computer and Mathematical Occupations, Sales and Related Occupations, followed by Business and Financial Operations Occupations.
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Several companies recently announced new location or expansion plans in Austin, involving more than 1,200 jobs. The list includes Aspire Food Group, Blue Apron, Chip Semiconductor, Dennis Steel, Home Depot Technology, Revenue Cycle, RSI, Speed Tech Lights, SteelSentry, Still Austin Whisky and D&R Signs.
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The Austin MSA reported an annual job growth rate of 1.9% or 18,800 net new jobs in December 2016, down from 2.0% or 19,500 net new jobs in November 2016, according to the Texas Workforce Commission (TWC) and the U.S.. Bureau of Labor Statistics (BLS). Job growth in the Austin area is slowing. Austin’s job growth has dropped from 3rd place in July 2016 to its current 25th place among the 50 largest U.S. metro areas.
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Education and health services added the most jobs (3,100 or 2.7%) in the past year - while the fastest growing industry was financial activities (4.8% or 2,600 jobs).
The following job market report is designed to provide insight into current employer demands, skills and occupations in the Austin MSA.
TOP JOB POSTINGS
The chart and table below lists the available unique ads in major occupation groups from December 14, 2016 to January 13, 2017, a mid-monthly timeframe closely associated with federal jobs numbers.

Source: The Conference Board Help Wanted OnLine ® (HWOL)
Major Occupational Groups | Ad Volume | Year-to-Year Percentage Change | Year-to-Year Difference |
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Computer & Mathematical Occupations | 5,973 | -13.00% | -895 |
Healthcare Practitioners & Technical Occupations | 3,820 | -0.50% | -18 |
Office and Administrative Support Occupations | 3,707 | -2.20% | -83 |
Sales & Related Occupations | 3,485 | -14.30% | -582 |
Management Occupations | 3,181 | -3.80% | -126 |
Business & Financial Operations Occupations | 2,259 | -8.20% | -201 |
Food Preparation & Serving Related Occupations | 1,844 | -0.20% | -4 |
Transportation & Material Moving Occupations | 1,486 | -5.00% | -78 |
Installation, Maintenance & Repair Occupations | 1,214 | -6.20% | -80 |
Architecture & Engineering Occupations | 929 | -15.20% | -166 |
Others (13) | 6,278 | -4.20% | -276 |
Total (23) | 34,176 | -6.80% | -2,509 |
Source: The Conference Board Help Wanted OnLine ® (HWOL)
There were approximately 34,200 Available Job Postings during the January 2017 monthly reporting period, a decrease of about 2,500 Available Job Postings compared to January 2016. About 6,000 or 18 percent of the Available Job Postings during the November reporting period fell under Computer and Mathematical Occupations.
Other occupational groups not reflected in this report that account for another 3,500 Available Job Openings are Building and Grounds Cleaning and Maintenance Occupations (2.5%), Healthcare Support Occupations (2.5%), Construction and Extraction Occupations (2.5%), and Education, Training, and Library Occupations (2.5%), representing approximately 10% of Available Job Postings.
According to the Texas Workforce Commission, the Austin MSA reported an unemployment rate of 3.2% or 35,500 unemployed in December 2016, an increase of 2,800 unemployed compared to December 2015.
The Austin metropolitan area added 18,800 net new jobs, or 1.9%, in the 12 months ending in December, according to Friday's release of payroll jobs numbers by the Texas Workforce Commission (TWC) and the U.S. Bureau of Labor Statistics (BLS). December appears to continue (numbers are preliminary) a drop-off in Austin’s rate of job growth that began in August or, arguably, earlier.
Approximately 65% of unemployment insurance (UI) claimants that are actively seeking a job in Travis County have less than an associate's degree, according to Workforce Solutions Capital Area.
The U.S. News & World Report just released their list of 2017 Best Places to Live report and Austin came in at 1st Place. According to WalletHub, Austin is a good place to seek a technology job and is ranked 6th in the nation for workers in one of the STEM fields.
MONTHLY AD TRENDS
The line chart below shows the monthly total volume of online ads posted in the Austin - Round Rock - San Marcos MSA from January 2013 through January 2017.

Source: The Conference Board Help Wanted OnLine ® (HWOL)
Note: The data for January 2017 would be the sum of all posted ads from December 14, 2016 to January 14, 2017. This reference period is aligned to the Bureau of Labor Statistics (BLS) unemployment job search time period to provide a more accurate comparison of labor supply and labor demand.
The total number of Available Job Postings was 28,300 in January 2013 and have risen to 34,200 in January 2017.
TOP 20 JOB POSTINGS
The chart below lists the top 20 unique available job postings in the Austin – Round Rock – San Marcos MSA from December 14, 2016 to January 13, 2017.

Source: The Conference Board Help Wanted OnLine ® (HWOL) and Bureau of Labor Statistics, May 2015
Office Clerks-General, Surgical Technologists, Radiologic Technologists, Pharmacy Technicians, Nursing Assistants, First-Line Supervisors of Retail Sales Workers and Janitors and Cleaners, Except Maids and Housekeeping Cleaners all saw a 60 or more year-to-year increase in postings.
Registered Nurses, Web Developers, Computer User Support Specialists, Network and Computer Systems Administrators, Software Developers-Applications, Computer Systems Analysts and Tellers saw a 110 or more year-to-year decrease in postings.
TOP 20 JOB POSTINGS AND HIRING DIFFICULTY
The chart below lists the top 20 unique available job postings and its hiring difficulty in the Austin – Round Rock – San Marcos MSA from December 14, 2016 to January 13, 2017.

Source: Wanted Technologies and the Bureau of Labor Statistics
The Hiring Scale views the difficulty-to-fill indicator on market conditions. It calculates a score for each position that the employer is trying to fill. Several factors affect the hiring scale score that include the supply of available candidates, the overall demand for employers for people in the position, the location, the occupation, local unemployment rates, job site source, offered pay level, etc. The Hiring Scale scores jobs from 1 to 99 based on their projected difficulty-to-recruit.
The Austin MSA has a more difficult time hiring for Management Analysts, Registered Nurses, Sales Managers and Maintenance and Repair Workers-General when compared nationally. Web Developers, Marketing Managers, Information Technology Project Managers, Software Quality Assurance Engineers and Testers and Computer Systems Engineers/Architects are still harder to recruit in the Austin MSA and all requiring some form of postsecondary education.
TOP 20 TECH JOB POSTINGS
The chart below lists the top 20 unique available job postings under Computer and Mathematical Occupations in the Austin – Round Rock – San Marcos MSA from December 14, 2016 to January 13, 2017.

Source: The Conference Board Help Wanted OnLine ® (HWOL) and Bureau of Labor Statistics, May 2015
The Computer and Mathematical Occupations saw 900 less Available Job Postings compared to the same period last year. Web Developers, Computer User Support Specialists, Network and Computer Systems Administrators, Software Developers-Applications and Computer Systems Analysts saw 100 or more decrease in year-to-year postings.
TOP 20 TECH JOB POSTINGS AND HIRING DIFFICULTY
The chart below lists the top 20 unique available job postings and its hiring difficulty under Computer and Mathematical Occupations in the Austin – Round Rock – San Marcos MSA from December 14, 2016 to January 13, 2017.

Source: Wanted Technologies and the Bureau of Labor Statistics
The Hiring Scale views the difficulty-to-fill indicator on market conditions. It calculates a score for each position that the employer is trying to fill. Several factors affect the hiring scale score that include the supply of available candidates, the overall demand for employers for people in the position, the location, the occupation, local unemployment rates, job site source, offered pay level, etc. The Hiring Scale scores jobs from 1 to 99 based on their projected difficulty-to-recruit.
Companies such as Amazon have seen a 100 or more year-to-year increase in postings under this category. The top five employers posting in this category with the largest year-to-year increases in postings are Amazon, Deloitte, Bazaarvoice, Solarwinds Worldwide, Rackspace and Forcepoint.
The Denver-Aurora-Broomfield MSA has a higher hiring difficulty in this occupational category compared to the Austin-Round Rock-San Marcos MSA.
TOP 20 HEALTHCARE JOB POSTINGS
The chart below lists the top 20 unique available job postings under Healthcare Practitioners and Technical Occupations in the Austin – Round Rock – San Marcos MSA from December 14, 2016 to January 13, 2017.

Source: The Conference Board Help Wanted OnLine ® (HWOL) and Bureau of Labor Statistics, May 2015
Surgical Technologists, Radiologic Technologists and Pharmacy Technicians saw 70 or more year-to-year increase in postings.
TOP 20 HEALTHCARE JOB POSTINGS AND HIRING DIFFICULTY
The chart below lists the top 20 unique available job postings and its hiring difficulty under Healthcare Practitioners and Technical Occupations in the Austin – Round Rock – San Marcos MSA from December 14, 2016 to January 13, 2017.

Source: Wanted Technologies and the Bureau of Labor Statistics
The Hiring Scale views the difficulty-to-fill indicator on market conditions. It calculates a score for each position that the employer is trying to fill. Several factors affect the hiring scale score that include the supply of available candidates, the overall demand for employers for people in the position, the location, the occupation, local unemployment rates, job site source, offered pay level, etc. The Hiring Scale scores jobs from 1 to 99 based on their projected difficulty-to-recruit.
Companies such as Austin Medical Center, St. David's Medical Center and the North Austin Medical Center have seen a 100 or more year-to-year increase in postings under this category. Most of the year-to-year increases in this occupational category are for Surgical Technologists, Radiologic Technologists and Pharmacy Technicians, all of which require an entry level education of an Associate's degree or less. However, the demand for Pharmacy Technicians is easier to fill in our region.
TOP HARD SKILLS IN DEMAND
The table below lists the top hard skills in demand for the available jobs in the Austin – Round Rock – San Marcos MSA from December 14, 2016 to January 13, 2017.
Top 20 Hard Skills in Demand by Employers | Required Skill by Volume | Year-to-Year Difference |
Top Related Skills (If 30% or more of the skill also reflects other required/optional skills) |
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Java | 2,039 | -375 | Python, JavaScript (JS) |
Quality Assurance (QA) | 1,832 | -660 | |
Linux | 1,576 | -345 | Java, Python, UNIX |
Bilingual | 1,504 | -392 | |
Structured Query Language (SQL) | 1,495 | -507 | Java |
Python | 1,301 | -126 | Java, Linux, Practical Extraction and Reporting Language (PERL), C/C++ |
JavaScript (JS) | 1,237 | -264 | Cascading Style Sheets (CSS), Java, Hypertext Markup Language (HTML), jQuery, Structured Query Language (SQL) |
Customer Relationship Management (CRM) | 1,203 | -455 | |
Quality Control | 1,112 | +66 | |
Pediatrics | 989 | +98 | Geriatrics |
Systems Development Life Cycle (SDLC) | 936 | -145 | Java |
Technical Support | 926 | -417 | |
Geriatrics | 910 | +264 | Pediatrics |
Salesforce CRM SFDC | 880 | -214 |
Customer Relationship Management (CRM) |
Software as a Service (SaaS) | 866 | -124 |
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C/C++ | 852 | +333 | Java, Python, Linux, Practical Extraction and Reporting Language (PERL), C# |
Web Services | 812 | -272 | Java, JavaScript (JS), Representational State Transfer (REST), Structured Query Language (SQL), Simple Object Access Protocol (SOAP) |
Bilingual Spanish | 767 | -140 | |
UNIX | 761 | -273 | Linux, Java, Python, Practical Extraction Reporting Language (PERL), Structured Query Language (SQL) |
Practical Extraction and Reporting Language (PERL) | 751 | -202 | Python, Linux, Java, C/C++, UNIX, Scripting Languages |
Source: Wanted Technologies
Skills in Demand provides a real-time view of skills currently in demand by employers. For example, of the available jobs posted from December 14, 2016 to January 13, 2017, 2,039 job postings required “Java” as a skill and 30% or more of those 2,039 job postings also had other required/optional skill(s) such as “Python" and "JavaScript".
Hard skills that are not on this list but have seen an increase of 100 or more postings are Human Resources Software, D Language, Medical-Surgical Nursing, Full Stack Frameworks and Amazon Web Services (AWS).
TOP CERTIFICATIONS IN DEMAND
The table below lists the top certifications in demand for the available jobs in the Austin – Round Rock – San Marcos MSA from December 14, 2016 to January 13, 2017.
Top 20 Certifications in Demand by Employers | Required Certification by Volume | Year-to-Year Difference | Top Related Certifications (if 30% or more of the skill also reflects Other required/optional skills) |
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Driver's License | 3,923 | -1,088 | |
Certified Registered Nurse (RN) | 3,533 | +408 | Basic Life Support (BLS) |
Basic Life Support (BLS) | 2,700 | +715 |
Certified Registered Nurse (RN), Advanced Cardiac |
Commercial Driver's License (CDL) | 1,388 | +411 | |
Certification in Cardiopulmonary Resuscitation (CPR) | 1,206 | -201 |
Certified Registered Nurse (RN), Basic Life Support (BLS) |
Advanced Cardiac Life Support (ACLS) | 1,073 | +269 |
Certified Registered Nurse (RN), Basic Life Support (BLS) |
Continuing Education (CE) |
851 | -78 | |
Occupational Safety & Health Administration Certification (OSHA) | 845 | -26 | |
HAZMAT |
772 | +91 | Commercial Driver's License (CDL) |
Food Safety Programs (HACCP) | 675 | -123 | |
First Aid Certification | 422 | -150 | |
Certified in Nursing Administration (CNA) |
404 | +45 |
Registered Nurse (RN), Certification in Cardiopulmonary Resuscitation (CPR), Basic Life Support (BLS), Certified Nursing Assistant (CNA), Patient Care Technician (PCT), Licensed Vocational Nurse (LVN) |
Health Insurance Portability and Accountability Act (HIPAA) | 391 | +8 | |
Licensed Vocational Nurse (LVN) | 349 | +8 | Certified Registered Nurse (RN), Certification in Cardiopulmonary Resuscitation (CPR), Basic Life Support (BLS), Patient Care Technician (PCT), Certified Nursing Assistant (CNA) |
Pediatric Advanced Life Support (PALS) | 343 | +17 | Advanced Cardiac Life Support (ACLS), Certified Registered Nurse (RN), Basic Life Support (BLS), Emergency Nursing Pediatric Course (ENPC) |
Basic Cardiac Life Support (BCLS) | 330 | +142 | Certified Registered Nurse (RN), Advanced Cardiac Life Support (ACLS) |
Board Certified (BC) | 319 | +14 | Board Eligible (BE) |
Certified Public Accountant (CPA) | 309 | -111 | |
Certified Nursing Assistant (CNA) | 286 | +5 | Certified in Nursing Assistant (CNA), Certified Registered Nurse (RN), Basic Life Support (BLS), Licensed Vocational Nurse (LVN), Patient Care Technician (PCT), Certification in Cardiopulmonary Resuscitation (CPR) |
Project Management Professional (PMP) | 286 | -109 |
Source: Wanted Technologies
Certifications in Demand provides a real-time view of certifications currently in demand by employers. For example, of the available job postings from December 14, 2016 to January 13, 2017, 3,533 job postings required “Certified Registered Nurse” as a certification and 30% or more of those 3,533 job postings also had other required/optional certification(s) such as “Basic Life Support (BLS)”.
Certifications that saw an increase of 200 or more postings are Commercial Driver's License (CDL), Basic Life Support (BLS) and Certified Registered Nurse (RN).
TOP EMPLOYERS
The table below lists the employers in the Austin - Round Rock - San Marcos MSA that posted available unique ads from December 14, 2016 to January 13, 2017.
Employer | Ad Volume |
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IBM | 940 |
Ascension Health | 862 |
HCA - The Healthcare Company | 563 |
DELL | 476 |
The University of Texas System | 346 |
Deloitte | 316 |
ACCENTURE | 308 |
Austin Medical Center | 305 |
Amazon | 300 |
Scott & White | 296 |
Goodwill Industries of Central Texas | 233 |
St. David's Medical Center | 231 |
Austin Independent School District | 212 |
Apex Systems, Inc. | 211 |
The Dollar General | 203 |
Robert Half International | 201 |
Randstad | 200 |
North Austin Medical Center | 198 |
Apple, Inc. | 173 |
Compass Group | 170 |
Source: The Conference Board Help Wanted OnLine ® (HWOL)
Austin Medical Center, Amazon, St. David's Medical Center, The Dollar General, North Austin Medical Center, Scott & White and Massage Envy are the employers that have seen increase of more than 100 job postings year-to-year.
Source: The Conference Board Help Wanted OnLine ® (HWOL) Program (with data collection by Wanted Technologies)
Related Categories: Education and Talent