Best Industries to Recruit for in the US
The US is the largest recruitment market in the world holding a whopping 34% market share, more than the combined staffing revenue size of the UK, Japan, Canada, Sweden, Belgium, India, and France; all major markets in their own right!
To put the US economy into perspective, the largest state economy California produced just shy of $3.6 trillion in terms of economic output in 2022. This was more than the UK's GDP last year of $3.1 trillion US dollars.
When you consider that California is just one state of 50, it shows how much business there is to be done in pretty much every sector that you can imagine. As the US is so large, if you haven’t yet entered the US staffing market, we’re going to help you narrow down your options to the most profitable recruiting niches.
Alternatively, if you are already making placements within the US, this blog can help you identify new verticals to explore as they grow in demand.
What are the best industries to recruit for in the US?
1. Tech and IT
Tech and IT is the second-largest driver of the US economy, and the North American tech sector controls 35% of the global market. This recruitment market has continuously been one of the fastest-growing job sectors in the US, displaying a robust growth of 16% in 2022. Staffing Industry Analysts predict growth to continue in 2023, although at a more modest rate of 5% amid inflationary pressure and market uncertainty. Staffing firm bill rates reached huge levels in 2021 and 2022 due to a post-covid boom in hiring but, on average, these bill rates have returned to match the levels of those in 2019.
Following another year of strong growth, the US tech and IT sector experienced an average salary rise of 2.3% in 2022 according to the Dice 2023 Tech Salary Report. This nationwide increase was catalysed by strong growth in emerging tech hubs such as Charlotte and Tampa.
To truly grasp the size of the IT staffing, it helps to have a comparison. The IT and tech temporary staffing sector in the US is worth $41.2 billion. To put the enormous profit-making opportunity in perspective, the entire UK recruitment market is worth $51 billion.
These factors all contribute to making IT and tech one of the best sectors to recruit in, which ambitious international recruitment agencies should consider exploring to increase their staffing revenue. If this is an area you want to explore, here are some of the most in-demand roles accompanied by their salaries within the IT sector in the US.
Popular IT roles in the US
IT security roles
Due to the widespread adoption and continuation of remote work, security vulnerabilities are still a threat, and IT security roles continue to be in demand. According to Dice, the average salary for cybersecurity engineers increased by 7.7% to $145,512 US dollars. Furthermore, CompTIA projects a 34% increase in Information Security Analysts in the next decade.
According to CyberSeek data, each of the first nine months of 2022 set records for the highest monthly cybersecurity demand since 2012 but cooled in November and December. However, there still aren’t enough cybersecurity workers in the US to meet demand.
Commercial roles
Unsurprisingly those in IT management earn some of the largest salaries in the industry, taking home an average of $164,814 in 2022. In the Dice report, Product Managers saw the highest increase in salary of all occupations, rising by 15.6% last year.
Data scientists
Data science is also a booming sub-niche within IT due to the importance of data increasing across industries. Three of the highest paid data-related IT jobs according to Indeed are Data Scientists, Data Architects, and Big Data Engineers. CompTIA predicts openings for Data Scientists and Data Analysts to grow 266% above the US national average over the next 10 years.
Software developers
Salaries for Principal Software Engineers averaged at $153,288 in 2022. This, coupled with the prediction that job growth for Software Developers and Engineers will outpace the national average by 180%, makes it a no-brainer for recruitment companies hoping to grow by making placements within this field in the US. This particularly rings true when you consider average margins for agencies are rarely lower than 25-30%.
Other IT roles worth noting if you are considering entering the US IT staffing skill segment include:
· Database administrators and architects
· Computer and information systems managers
· System analysts
· Web developers
· Information security analysts
· Help desk and desktop support professionals.
· Network and computer systems administrators
· Computer programmers
2. Energy
A great growing recruitment niche is energy, particularly clean energy. With the topic being of political importance and recent climate scares, it’s expected that there’s going to be a lot of money pumped into the energy sector in the US. The growth of the renewable power sector in the United States has made it the second-largest producer of renewable electricity in the world, following only China.
President Biden is aiming to create a carbon pollution-free power sector by 2035 and a net zero emissions economy by no later than 2050. He has also pledged a huge 10 million clean-energy jobs, which are all currently paying around 25% above the national wage average. So, there are lots of opportunities for recruitment agencies who specialize in the clean energy market.
The Bureau of Labor Statistics has projected that Wind Turbine Service Technicians will be the second-fastest growing job of the next decade, second only to Nurse Practitioners.
Popular states for energy roles in the US
According to E4, clean energy has become a critical job creator in every state and district employing 1 in every 50 American workers. Here is a breakdown of the top 10 states employing the most clean energy workers:
1. California - 289,788 jobs
2. Texas - 158,882 jobs
3. New York - 123,921 jobs
4. Florida - 114,079 jobs
5. Illinois - 82,592 jobs
6. Massachusetts - 79,173 jobs
7. North Carolina - 78,018 jobs
8. Ohio - 74,966 jobs
9. Michigan - 74,624 jobs
10. Virginia - 73,119 jobs
For a comprehensive breakdown of each state’s energy occupations, we recommend browsing the full report.
The key takeaway for recruiters, which is driving demand for staff in this sector, is that it is a relatively new area. A huge number of recruits will be expected to fill the skills gap to meet Biden’s goal, creating a massive opportunity for recruiters in this sector within the US.
3. Life Sciences
Even though the second half of 2022 saw layouts and volatility in the industry, a tight labour market remains for Life Science companies. This means that hiring continues to be a challenge, and staffing agencies that can provide a strong service will be seen as highly valuable. Salaries for the industry continue to grow (3%), though at a reduced pace in comparison to previous years. Staffing Industry Analysts have predicted a growth of 5% for this temporary staffing segment in 2024, marking its value at $3.5 billion.
Increased salary growth combined with a talent shortage within Life Sciences means many companies cannot source and seek talent for these roles alone. They are seeking help from specialized agencies to bridge the gap, making it an attractive and popular sector for staffing agencies to recruit in.
See the tables below for data on the best states and niches within the Life Sciences industry to recruit in.
4. Marketing/Creative
As companies in the US continue to embrace digital trends to stand out online, marketing/creative has become one of the best industries to recruit for.
We spoke to Staffing Industry Analysts, and according to their analysis, marketing is the segment that came out as the strongest in the US staffing industry 2023 forecast. The development of traditional marketing roles in an increasingly digital world has catalysed this growth potential as more technical skills are required.
With a projected temporary staffing segment value of $2 billion, there is an opportunity for recruitment agencies to benefit from skills shortage in the market as it's difficult for US clients to find the right people.
Statista projects that digital advertising expenditures in the United States will increase by 50% between 2023 and 2027. In that five year period U.S. digital ad spend will grow from $264 billion to $395 billion.
Demand for Contract Workers Increases
Furthermore, as per a report from Robert Half, 63% of marketing and creative managers planned to hire more contract professionals in the first half of 2023 – an increase from 44% for the second half of 2022.
This all points to a huge opportunity for international staffing agencies to recruit within the marketing/creative sector in the US.
Popular marketing/creative roles in the US
If you are considering recruiting within the US marketing/creative sector in-demand roles include those that specialize in:
· PPC
· SEO
· Copywriting
· Content writing
· Digital analysis
· Graphic Designers
· User experience (UX) and user interface (UI) designers
· eCommerce experts
· Website Developers
Most profitable recruiting niches per state
We’ve ran through the best industries to recruit for in the US, now it's time to find out the most profitable recruiting niches per state.
To help you choose your location, browse our table and accompanying map below which outlines the states with the highest revenue for contract placements per sector.
|
State |
Revenue |
|
Marketing |
|
|
California |
$382
million |
|
New York |
$250
million |
|
Texas |
$169
million |
|
Engineering |
|
|
Texas |
$1.07 billion |
|
Michigan |
$1.06
billion |
|
California |
$804
million |
|
Tech |
|
|
Texas |
$5.7
billion |
|
California |
$3.1
billion |
|
Illinois |
$2.8
billion |
|
Life Sciences |
|
|
California |
$803
million |
|
New Jersey |
$271
million |
|
Massachusetts
|
$267
million |
|
Finance |
|
|
California |
$1.02
billion |
|
Texas |
$679
million |
|
Florida |
$574
million |