Austin Job Postings Report September 2016
Posted on 10/10/2016 by Kwee Lan Teo
AUSTIN JOB POSTINGS REPORT SEPTEMBER 2016
AUSTIN - ROUND ROCK - SAN MARCOS MSA
(AUGUST 14, 2016 to SEPTEMBER 13, 2016)
austinchamber.com/jobpostings
The following job market report is designed to provide insight into current employer demands, skills and occupations in the Austin MSA.
INSIGHTS
- Approximately 40,000 Available Job Postings during the monthly reporting period, a decrease of 5,000 postings compared to the same period last year.
- Largest year-to-year decreases in the Computer and Mathematical Occupations, followed by Healthcare Practitioners and Technical Occupations and Sales and Related Occupations.
- Several companies recently announced new location or expansion plans in Austin, involving more than 340 jobs. The list includes Aliya Financial, Able Design Group, SpeachMe, SolarCity, Innowave RF, Hello Soda, Deep Eddy Vodka, Cognitive Scale, CipherLoc and Aceable.
TOP JOB POSTINGS
The chart and table below lists the available unique ads in major occupation groups from August 14, 2016 to September 13, 2016, a mid-monthly timeframe closely associated with federal jobs numbers.

Major Occupational Groups | Ad Volume | Year-to-Year Percentage Change | Year-to-Year Difference |
---|---|---|---|
Computer & Mathematical Occupations | 6,848 | -16.60% | -1,360 |
Office & Administrative Support Occupations | 4,326 | -10.20% | -491 |
Healthcare Practitioners & Technical Occupations | 4,216 | -14.70% | -724 |
Sales & Related Occupations | 3,876 | -15.50% | -711 |
Management Occupations | 3,568 | -4.20% | -156 |
Food Preparation & Serving Related Occupations | 2,414 | +2.20% | +53 |
Business & Financial Operations Occupations | 2,404 | -12.50% | -343 |
Transportation & Material Moving Occupations | 1,844 | -11.70% | -245 |
Installation, Maintenance & Repair Occupations | 1,587 | -8.60% | -150 |
Construction & Extraction Occupations | 1,189 | -16.40% | -234 |
Others (13) | 7,776 | --7.50% | -633 |
Total (23) | 40,048 | -11.10% | -4,994 |
Source: The Conference Board Help Wanted OnLine ® (HWOL)
There were approximately 40,000 Available Job Postings during the September 2016 monthly reporting period, a decrease of about 5,000 Available Job Postings compared to September of 2015. About 6,800 or 17 percent of the available postings during the September reporting period fell under Computer and Mathematical Occupations.
Other occupational groups not reflected in this report that accounts for another 5,100 Available Job Openings are Building and Grounds Cleaning and Maintenance Occupations (3%), Education, Training, and Library Occupations (3%), Architecture and Engineering Occupations (3%), Healthcare Support Occupations (3%) and Arts, Design, Entertainment, Sports, and Media Occupations (2%).
USA Today ranked Austin 9th on the "American Cities Adding The Most Jobs". The Kauffman Foundation named Austin 1st in the "Top 25 Cities For Startup Activity, 2016". According to CBRE, Austin is ranked 5th in the "Scoring Tech Talent" list for 2016.
According to the Texas Workforce Commission, the Austin MSA reported an unemployment rate of 3.5% or 38,700 unemployed in August 2016. The Austin MSA reported an annual job growth rate of 3.2% or 30,900 net new jobs in August 2016, making Austin the tenth fastest growing major metro in the nation. Professional and Business Services added the most jobs (6,800 or 4.2%) in the past year. The fastest growing industries are Construction and Natural Resources (12.3%) and Wholesale Trade (7.6%).
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.
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 September 2012 through September 2016.

Source: The Conference Board Help Wanted OnLine ® (HWOL)
Note: The data for September 2016 would be the sum of all posted ads from August 14, 2016 to September 13, 2016. 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 roughly 33,400 in September 2012 and have risen to 40,000 in September 2016. Of the 40,000 job postings, about half are New Job Postings. About 80% are for full-time positions, 13% are part-time positions, 6.5% are contract positions and less than 1% are for internships.
TOP 20 JOB POSTINGS
The chart below lists the top 20 unique available job postings in the Austin – Round Rock – San Marcos MSA from August 14, 2016 to September 13, 2016.

Source: The Conference Board Help Wanted OnLine ® (HWOL) and Bureau of Labor Statistics, May 2015
Combined Food Preparation and Serving Workers, Including Fast Food, Maids and Housekeeping Cleaners, Maintenance and Repair Workers, General and Medical and Health Services Managers were the few occupations that saw a very slight year-to-year increase in postings.
Less than 1% of the available job postings, not reflected in this report, are for internship positions. The top internship postings are for Registered Nurses, Electricians, Public Relations Specialists and Market Research Analysts and Marketing Specialists.
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 August 14, 2016 to September 13, 2016.
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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.
About half of the occupations on the Top 20 Job Postings list require less than an associate's degree. The hiring difficulty for most these occupations are also lower. The hiring difficulty for jobs that require a bachelor's degree, with or without related work experience, is higher in the region.
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 August 14, 2016 to September 13, 2016.

Source: The Conference Board Help Wanted OnLine ® (HWOL) and Bureau of Labor Statistics, May 2015
The Computer and Mathematical Occupations saw almost 1,360 less Available Job Postings compared to the same period last year. Computer Systems Analysts, Network and Computer Systems Administrators, Web Developers and Software Developers, Applications saw most of the decreases in postings. Approximately 90 percent of the postings under this category are for full-time positions and 40 are internship 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 August 14, 2016 to September 13, 2016.

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.
Almost all the occupations in this category require a bachelor's degree or more and have a higher hiring difficulty. Companies such as DELL, IBM, Amazon, ACCENTURE, Visa, General Motors Corporation, Charles Schwab Corporation, The University of Texas Systems, VMWare, and Deloitte have posted for positions under Computer and Mathematical Occupations.
The Denver-Aurora-Broomfield MSA has a slightly higher hiring difficulty in this occupational category compared to the Austin-Round Rock-San Marcos MSA while the Nashville-Davidson-Murfreesboro-Franklin MSA has a lower hiring difficulty.
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 August 14, 2016 to September 13, 2016.

Source: The Conference Board Help Wanted OnLine ® (HWOL) and Bureau of Labor Statistics, May 2015
Registered Nurses remain the top occupation in both the region and in this category. Surgical Technologists saw the largest year-to-year increase in postings, followed by Radiologic Technologists.
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 August 14, 2016 to September 13, 2016.

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.
Two of the hardest-to-fill occupations, Surgical Technologists and Cardiovascular Technologists and Technicians, require at least an associate's degree and companies such as Ascension Health, HCA-The Healthcare Company and Bailey Square Medical Center have posted openings.
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 August 14, 2016 to September 13, 2016.
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) |
---|---|---|---|
Java | 2,298 | -460 | JavaScript (JS) |
Quality Assurance (QA) | 2,122 | -634 | |
Linux | 1,767 | -627 | UNIX, Java, Python |
Bilingual | 1,648 | -468 | |
Structured Query Language (SQL) | 1,621 | -497 | Java |
JavaScript (JS) | 1,584 | -136 | Cascading Style Sheets (CSS), Hypertext Markup Language (HTML), Java, jQuery |
Python | 1,410 | -209 | Java, Linux, Practical Extraction and Reporting Language (PERL) |
Customer Relationship Management (CRM) | 1,343 | -377 | |
Quality Control | 1,128 | -249 | |
Pediatrics | 1,124 | -158 | |
Software as a Service (SaaS) | 1,090 | +16 | |
Technical Support | 1,065 | -343 | |
Web Services | 1,036 | -178 | Java, JavaScript (JS), Extensible Markup Language (XML), Representational State Transfer (REST), Simple Object Access Protocol (SOAP) |
C/C++ | 1,017 | +659 | Java, Python, Linux |
Systems Development Life Cycle (SDLC) | 956 | -245 | Java |
UNIX | 950 | -270 | Linux, Java |
Cascading Style Sheets (CSS) | 944 | -148 | JavaScript (JS), Cascading Style Sheets (CSS), Hypertext Markup Language (HTML), Java, jQuery, MVC |
Salesforce CRM SFDC | 938 | -266 | Customer Relationship Management (CRM) |
Hypertext Markup Language (HTML) | 926 | -299 | JavaScript (JS), Cascading Style Sheets (CSS), jQuery, Java |
C# | 892 | -89 |
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 August 14, 2016 to September 13, 2016, 2,298 job postings required “Java” as a skill and 30% or more of those 2,298 job postings also had other required/optional skill(s) such as “JavaScript (JS)”.
C/C++ saw the largest year-to-year increase in demand with companies such as Amazon and Charles Schwab Corporation, Visa and vAuto posting jobs requiring this skill. MVC is a hard skill that made it to the list this month.
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 August 14, 2016 to September 13, 2016.
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) |
---|---|---|---|
Driver's License | 4,937 | -595 | |
Certified Registered Nurse (RN) | 3,731 | -929 | Basic Life Support (BLS) |
Basic Life Support (BLS) | 2,523 | -511 | Certified Registered Nurse (RN), Advanced Cardiac Life Support (ACLS) |
Commercial Driver's License (CDL) | 2,211 | +1,234 | |
Certification in Cardiopulmonary Resuscitation (CPR) | 1,443 | -260 | Certified Registered Nurse (RN) |
Advanced Cardiac Life Support (ACLS) | 1,187 | -53 | Certified Registered Nurse (RN), Basic Life Support (BLS), Pediatric Advanced Life Support (PALS) |
Continuing Education (CE) | 902 | -126 | |
Occupational Safety & Health Administration Certification (OSHA) | 900 | -126 | |
Food Safety Programs (HACCP) | 866 | 0 | |
HAZMAT | 772 | -93 | Commercial Driver's License (CDL) |
Certified in Nursing Administration (CNA) | 467 | +123 | Certified Nursing Assistant (CNA), Certified Registered Nurse (RN), Certification in Cardiopulmonary Resuscitation (CPR), Basic Life Support (BLS), Licensed Vocational Nurse (LVN), Patient Care Technician (PCT) |
Licensed Vocational Nurse (LVN) | 463 | +96 | Certified Registered Nurse (RN), Certification in Cardiopulmonary Resuscitation (CPR), Basic Life Support (BLS), Certified Nursing Assistant (CNA), Patient Care Technician (PCT), Certified in Nursing Administration (CNA), Licensed Practical Nurse (LPN) |
First Aid Certification | 455 | -152 | |
Certified Nursing Assistant (CNA) | 449 | +199 | Certified in Nursing Administration (CNA), Certified Registered Nurse (RN), Basic Life Support (BLS), Licensed Vocational Nurse (LVN), Patient Care Technician (PCT), Certification in Cardiopulmonary Resuscitation (CPR), Emergency Medical Technician (EMT) |
Pediatric Advanced Life Support (PALS) | 435 | -120 |
Advanced Cardiac Life Support (ACLS), Certified Registered Nurse (RN), Basic Life Support (BLS), Emergency Nursing Pediatric Course (ENPC) |
Health Insurance Portability and Accountability Act (HIPAA) | 433 | -80 | Occupational Safety & Health Administration (OSHA) |
Special Education (SPED) | 381 | -265 | |
Certified Public Accountant (CPA) |
355 | -136 | |
Basic Cardiac Life Support (BCLS) | 350 | +7 | Certified Registered Nurse (RN), Advanced Cardiac Life Support (ACLS) |
Board Certified (BC) | 346 | +29 |
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 August 14, 2016 to September 13, 2016, 3,731 job postings required “Certified Registered Nurse” as a certification and 30% or more of those 3,731 job postings also had other required/optional certification(s) such as “Basic Life Support (BLS)”.
Commercial Driver's License (CDL), Certified Nursing Assistant (CNA) and Certified in Nursing Administration (CNA) saw an increase of 100 or more postings year-to-year.
TOP EMPLOYERS
The table below lists the employers in the Austin - Round Rock - San Marcos MSA that posted available unique ads from August 14, 2016 to September 13, 2016.
Employer | Ad Volume |
---|---|
Ascension Health | 911 |
IBM | 773 |
HCA - The Healthcare Company | 599 |
DELL | 558 |
ACCENTURE | 404 |
The University of Texas System | 403 |
Goodwill Industries of Central Texas | 347 |
Compass Group | 293 |
Deloitte | 277 |
St. David's Medical Center | 263 |
Robert Half International | 258 |
Austin Medical Center | 257 |
Amazon | 250 |
North Austin Medical Center | 234 |
Austin Independent School District | 232 |
Scott & White | 229 |
Apex Systems, Inc. | 213 |
Aerotek | 192 |
Randstad | 176 |
Kforce Professional Staffing, Inc. | 176 |
Apple, Inc. | 156 |
Visa | 152 |
Hilton Worldwide | 152 |
BROOKDALE | 150 |
ADVANTAGE SOLUTIONS, Inc. | 135 |
Source: The Conference Board Help Wanted OnLine ® (HWOL)
HCA-The Healthcare Company, Amazon, Compass Group, Apex Systems, Inc. and Visa are the top employers on this list that have a 100 or more increase in postings, compared to the same time last year.
Source: The Conference Board Help Wanted OnLine ® (HWOL) Program (with data collection by Wanted Technologies)
Related Categories: Education and Talent