Did you ever wonder what truck drivers, software developers, and nurses have in common? Not a lot other than there is a huge demand for them in Dallas-Fort Worth.
The correlation between labor market trends such as these and the commercial real estate industry has never been more prevalent today. The Dallas-Fort Worth region has historically been one of the most resilient labor markets in the country. Before the COVID pandemic, the market seemed invincible as it poached companies from across the country through its economic development efforts.
Flash forward to today. The pandemic appears to be waning, but challenges remain in the DFW commercial real estate industry for tenants and landlords.
To help you identify some of the trends, Site Selection Group evaluated regional job postings to help identify what industry sectors and commercial real estate product types might be impacted the most.
What is the job positing data?
To help evaluate labor markets for our corporate site selection projects, Site Selection Group utilizes job posting data collected from hundreds of millions of job postings created by employers by scraping them from the job posting websites. The unique job postings variable is the number of deduplicated job vacancy advertisements scraped from over 100,000 websites. These are active job postings that are currently online and advertised as available.
The number of postings may be higher or lower than the number of actual hires. Postings might outnumber hires when a company is trying hard to find talent, or postings may be significantly fewer than hires because certain types of jobs aren’t typically advertised online.
Job postings on the rise as COVID diminishes.
The amount of job postings has been consistently increasing as the impact of the COVID pandemic lessens. Between January and May, job postings increased by approximately 18 percent. This is a huge indicator that the demand for workers is intensifying. The following table summarizes unique job postings since the beginning of 2021.
Dallas County sees the greatest job demand
Dallas County had the greatest demand for employees, with over 150,000 unique job postings in the first quarter of 2021. There were almost 200,000 open jobs when you combine Dallas and Collin counties which is a huge demand on the labor market.
Cities with the highest number of unique job postings
The following table breaks down job postings by city within the DFW region. This data helps you understand what pockets within the metro area potentially drive the greatest demand for workers. Dallas, Plano, and Irving lead the pack with the most open positions.
Truck drivers, software developers, and nurses are in greatest demand
Truck drivers, software developers, and nurses are in the greatest demand within Dallas-Fort Worth. It makes a lot of sense considering the growth of e-commerce, the tech sector, and healthcare in this region. Other notable sectors include retail, call centers, and the financial services sector, which appear to have solid demand.
You can clearly find some correlation between real estate demand and the labor market by analyzing this data. The following table identifies the 20 occupations with the highest amount of job postings.
These DFW employers have the most job postings
Oracle, JPMorgan Chase, Baylor Scott & White Health, and HCA lead the pack of employers looking for employees in Dallas-Fort Worth. This is a great indicator as to which companies and industry types are expanding. The following list identifies the top 20 companies with the most unique job postings during the first quarter of 2021.
Hopefully, you now understand what a truck driver, software developer, and nurse have in common. The impact on the commercial real estate market is mixed depending on what occupation and industry type. Truck drivers drop and pick up loads from warehouses in huge demand, while software developers can easily work from home versus in a traditional office. Only time will tell how the commercial real estate market in Dallas-Fort Worth balances out in a post-COVID world.
