The West Side Journal
Industry specific analysis looks at openings, skills, qualifications, and more
Truck drivers and registered nurses are the Greater Baton Rouge region’s most high-demand occupations, according to a new regional analysis of job openings and corresponding in-demand skills for growth sectors by The Baton Rouge Area Chamber (BRAC).
The analysis, to be released quarterly, is broken down by the key industries of healthcare, tech, industrial and logistics, and includes sector-specific information on top occupations, top hard skills, most common skills, education breakdown, companies hiring and top qualifications.
“As the regional economy recovers, it is key that the Capital Region community understands what positions local businesses are trying to hire, and what skills are required,” said Andrew Fitzgerald, senior director of research for BRAC. “We are publishing this data so that educators and training providers can ensure that the programs best aligned with these openings are available, and job seekers can have confidence that this upskilling will improve their chances at a high-demand, high-wage job.”
Key takeaways from this quarter’s analysis include:
- The two most high-demand occupations, truck drivers and registered nurses, are in industries that were resilient during the pandemic;
- Among certifications sought by healthcare employers, licensed practical nursing was found in the most job postings;
- In the tech sector, employers are most interested in SQL, Java, and Amazon Web Services in regards to skills and certifications;
- In manufacturing and construction, the greatest demand is for supervisors of skilled craft workers; and
- While the logistics sector is growing quickly in the Capital Region, there is not currently any post-secondary certification or degree pathway to high-demand occupations in the industry.
Three of the top five posted occupations for the region saw over-the-year growth in postings, with truck driving seeing a significant 119% increase, most likely due to increased shipping volume with online retail sales surging in the lockdown periods. Although two retail-based occupations saw a significant drop-off in postings, they still have thousands of available openings.
The analysis identified the top skills listed in job postings, ranking them as a percentage of the number of postings with that skill compared to the total number of hiring posts. The top five common skills overall are:
• Communication (26%)
• Customer Service (23%)
• Management (19%)
• Sales (19%)
• Operations (13%)
The top five hiring industries for the quarter were:
• Retail Trade
• Professional, Scientific and Technical Services
• Administrative and Support and Waste Management and Remediation Services
• Transportation and Warehousing
• Health Care and Social Assistance
Data for the quarterly jobs analysis is gathered from Emsi’s Jobs Posting Analytics database. This subscription service continually pulls data from more than 55,000 websites, including job boards and company-specific job opportunity pages. BRAC has aggregated this data for key growth industries that were identified during the pandemic.