Job Listings at S&P 500 Companies up 52% in 2021 According to S&P 500 LinkUp Jobs Index
Communications Services and Energy Sectors Lead the Way While Consumer Staples and Consumer Discretionary Lag
NEW YORK, Oct. 6, 2021 /PRNewswire/ -- S&P Dow Jones Indices (S&P DJI) today released the latest data for the S&P 500 LinkUp Jobs Index. The index, which measures the change in open job listings at S&P 500 companies, shows that available positions have increased by 52% in 2021 as companies look to boost hiring in the economic recovery from the Covid-19 pandemic.
Sector Analysis
Communications Services companies have led the way so far in 2021, with a 120.4% increase in open positions followed by Energy at 119.8% and Financials at 105.4%. Consumer Staples, Consumer Discretionary, and Health Care companies have seen the smallest growth in 2021 job listings at 28%, 28.1% and 42.1%, respectively.
Historical Figures (thru September 27, 2021)
Sector |
MTD |
QTD |
YTD |
1 Year |
YTD Stock Return |
S&P 500 LinkUp Jobs Index |
3.07% |
11.23% |
51.86% |
59.45% |
(S&P 500) 18.29% |
Communications Services |
4.32% |
13.13% |
120.40% |
132.02% |
25.05% |
Consumer Discretionary |
1.95% |
7.46% |
28.13% |
26.07% |
13.62% |
Consumer Staples |
1.88% |
7.70% |
28.05% |
43.01% |
5.11% |
Energy |
9.24% |
28.28% |
119.77% |
161.50% |
39.73% |
Financials |
8.45% |
23.33% |
105.43% |
125.65% |
31.47% |
Health Care |
2.00% |
8.23% |
42.07% |
52.00% |
14.62% |
Industrials |
8.56% |
18.28% |
94.68% |
78.94% |
13.91% |
Information Technology |
0.04% |
13.59% |
101.49% |
177.49% |
18.97% |
Materials |
1.74% |
11.96% |
77.24% |
87.24% |
12.62% |
Real Estate |
5.46% |
13.15% |
99.22% |
111.10% |
23.95% |
Utilities |
1.81% |
25.49% |
83.00% |
102.19% |
2.51% |
"Labor demand in the U.S. has risen to unprecedented levels this year, with companies across sectors scrambling to hire workers as the economy continues to recover from Covid-19. Against that backdrop, it is not surprising to see a significant increase in job listings by S&P 500 companies," said Reid Steadman, Managing Director and Global Head of ESG and Innovation Indices at S&P Dow Jones Indices.
Steadman continued, "The sectors with the biggest increases in job listings this year have some of the biggest stock returns so far in 2021, with Energy companies showing the second biggest job listings growth (119.8%) and the largest share appreciation (39.7%). On the opposite end, Consumer Staples companies which have seen the lowest job listing growth this year (28%), are also among the worst performers in the S&P 500 index with YTD returns of 5.1% compared to the benchmark's 18.3%"
"It's a reversal of trends from 2020 when Consumer Staples companies were among the least adversely impacted by Covid-19. Last year, job listings at Consumer Staples companies increased 20.5% compared to 9.7% among S&P 500 companies overall," concluded Steadman.
The S&P 500 LinkUp Jobs Indices are published weekly and are calculated using the sum of the weekly average job count from each S&P 500 company provided by LinkUp, an employment-focused data company that tracks and aggregates daily job openings directly from more than 60,000 company websites globally.
LinkUp's data are extensively quality checked during the actual gathering of data from individual company job sites to confirm integrity and accuracy of the number of job openings.
Historical data for the S&P 500 LinkUp Jobs Indices can be accessed and downloaded from the index webpage.
ABOUT S&P DOW JONES INDICES
S&P Dow Jones Indices is the largest global resource for essential index-based concepts, data and research, and home to iconic financial market indicators, such as the S&P 500® and the Dow Jones Industrial Average®. More assets are invested in products based on our indices than products based on indices from any other provider in the world. Since Charles Dow invented the first index in 1884, S&P DJI has been innovating and developing indices across the spectrum of asset classes helping to define the way investors measure and trade the markets.
S&P Dow Jones Indices is a division of S&P Global (NYSE: SPGI), which provides essential intelligence for individuals, companies, and governments to make decisions with confidence. For more information, visit www.spglobal.com/spdji/.
SOURCE S&P Dow Jones Indices
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