Increases in hiring grew at 10.4% year over year nationally in December, with the highest growth rate coming in Houston and the lowest in Washington, D.C. For the month of December alone, year-over-year growth clocked in at 24.2%. The data were published today by professional social media site LinkedIn.

The industries that experienced the biggest year-over-year increases in LinkedIn’s hiring rate in December were financial services and insurance (23.1% higher); aerospace, automotive and transportation (22.2%); and architecture and engineering (21.1%).

LinkedIn defines hiring rate as “the percentage of LinkedIn members who changed the name of their new employer on their profile the same month they began their new job, divided by the total number of LinkedIn members in the U.S.” LinkedIn reports that more than 143 million U.S. workers have LinkedIn Profiles and that more than 20,000 companies use the service to recruit new employees.

Of the 10 cities losing the most workers, all but one are east of the Mississippi River. The top two cities losing workers were Hartford, Connecticut (population loss of 59.9 workers per 10,000 LinkedIn members) and Providence, Rhode Island (46.9 workers lost). The remaining eight cities that lost the most workers include Pittsburgh (44.3); Norfolk, Virginia (42.0); Chicago (39.5); Oklahoma City (34.8); St. Louis (29.0); Cincinnati (26.6); Baltimore (26.5); and Miami-Ft. Lauderdale (26.0).

The 10 cities gaining the most workers per 10,000 LinkedIn members were:

1. Denver: 68.6 workers gained
2. Seattle: 67.3
3. Austin: 59.1
4. Las Vegas: 51.3
5. Charlotte: 50.5
6. Tampa-St. Petersburg: 48.3
7. Nashville: 47.6
8. Portland, Oregon: 43.4
9. West Palm Beach: 40.8
10. Jacksonville: 31.4

Cities with the highest numbers to change their location per 10,000 LinkedIn members were:

1. Austin: 585.1 moved here
2. Orange County, California: 489
3. San Diego: 478.2
4. Raleigh-Durham: 458.2
5. West Palm Beach: 444.1
6. Washington, D.C.: 421.6
7. Charlotte: 406.1
8. San Francisco-Bay Area: 391.4
9. Denver: 387.9
10. Providence, Rhode Island: 374.9

The full report is available at the LinkedIn website.

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