The global job market has experienced a number of significant changes during the COVID-19 Pandemic. Shelter-in-place orders along with the closing of non-essential businesses has been felt across every conceivable industry. While some companies that were flagging before the crisis like J.C. Penney have fallen flat and declared bankruptcy, and a much smaller section have thrived like Target. It's only logical that Microsoft-owned LinkedIn ($MSFT), the business and employment-oriented online service would see a boost in user engagement as the need for jobs rises.
Over the past year LinkedIn has seen a massive increase in traction, with a ~35% Relative Change increase. Interestingly enough, we found that LinkedIn's usage in foreign markets has increased significantly, and that these numbers have been on an upward trend since well before the onset of the Coronavirus troubles.
Take Belgium for example, with a 32% increase.
Australia's use has seen a 25% rise. This number is particularly interesting, when we look at Australia's unemployment rate, which has remained fairly steady at 5.2% until very recently. This could indicate that the improvement of use can be unrelated to a poor job market.
Argentina has experienced a 35% increase in engagement.
Brazil has one of the higher Relative Change increases of 39%. Brazil saw a relative decrease in national unemployment rate in 2019, with the lowest numbers in three years. Understandably there has been a marked jump in unemployment since the Pandemic.
While COVID-19 might help explain why LinkedIn continues to maintain an increase in usage over trend, it isn't the only factor. We are interested in seeing more data develop over time, to assist in connecting the dots on the bigger picture. Meanwhile, LinkedIn relies on job postings from employers as a major revenue driver, and if hiring remains low across the board, the business is likely seeing a slowdown there.
About the Data:
Thinknum tracks companies using the information they post online - jobs, social and web traffic, product sales, and app ratings - and creates data sets that measure factors like hiring, revenue, and foot traffic. Data sets may not be fully comprehensive (they only account for what is available on the web), but they can be used to gauge performance factors like staffing and sales.
