10 Jobs That Have Thrived in 2020

A number of jobs have thrived in 2020: some despite COVID-19 and the great shutdown, others apparently because of it. Here are 10 types of work that are having a heyday across various industries.

We broke them down into two lists:

1. Five job categories with the greatest increase in new job postings from January to June. These are areas of work that are posting more now than they were pre COVID. They either had momentary wobbles during the shutdown and recovered quickly, or they actually flourished during the shutdown itself (think of online shopping).
2. Five job categories with the biggest torrent of new job postings in July alone. These are the types of jobs that seem to be bouncing back with vim and vigor.

If you want a cheat sheet, the thriving job categories are online shopping, online shopping, trucking (to deliver on all the online shopping), trucking, trucking, and more trucking. Oh, and the FBI is hiring. And America needs cybersecurity experts.

Cybersecurity, online shopping, and trucking have more job postings now than pre-COVID

Here are the job categories with the greatest % increase of new job postings from January to June.

1. Law enforcement (+177%) – Driving this torrent of new job postings is the FBI, whose job postings have burgeoned 815% since January.

2. Cybersecurity (+113%) – Overall, cybersecurity job postings may have increased by 113%, but for Cybersecurity tech leader Crowdstrike individually, new job postings increased by nearly 4,000% since January. All of this reflects the fervent demand for cybersecurity talent as the US currently has half the cybersecurity talent it needs to fill open positions.

3. Long-distance trucking (+91%) and 4. Local trucking (+52%) – While the great COVID shutdown drove business down for some trucking companies, it certainly drove business up for others. Mercer Transportation (long-distance) and Loggins Logistics (local) are the two leading businesses trying to grow their fleet to keep up with all the deliveries.

5. Online shopping (+56%) – Amazon, not surprisingly, is the major force behind the proliferation of job postings for online shopping. Besides getting a boom in sales during the worst of the shutdown, Amazon might also be primed to benefit from a long-term shift in how customers shop. For many Americans, the obsession with easy online shopping might become permanent.

7. Postal service (+38%) – USPS posted far more job postings in April-June than they did in the pre-COVID months of January-March. Like the trucking companies, USPS is striving to keep up with the tsunami of online orders. 

Used car dealers led the way with new job postings in July

Generally we want to judge progress by the video, not the snapshot, but sometimes the snapshot is still informative. Trends in job postings in July alone is that snapshot here. The following chart shows the job categories with the greatest % increase in new job postings in July over June.

6. Used car dealers (+63%) – The company behind these job postings is Carvana, the online used-car dealer leading the way in what could be the new normal of digital car sales—because they have already been selling online for years. Carvana’s sales took a hit in April, but they have since recovered faster than most.

7. Support activities for transportation (+56%) – Like trucking, support activities for transportation are also in demand. Hogan Transports had a huge increase in new job postings in July.

8. Data-processing & hosting (+52%) – New job postings for Change Healthcare, a healthcare technology company, blew up by 366%.

9. Local messengers and local delivery (+23%) – Shipt, a delivery service owned by Target but which also delivers for Office Depot and others, is still looking to hire. Like Amazon, Shipt was one of few companies aggressively hiring during the worst of the economic shutdown.

10. Food service contractors (+36%) – The main company behind these new job postings is SODEXO, a food and facilities management company.

Employers need a combo of technical + human skills

Now let’s look at the top skills needed by these job categories. Some of the jobs (like cybersecurity) are fairly technical, yet no matter the job, employers ever seek a combination of both technical and human skills (aka soft skills). Now, more than ever, technical skills + human skills is an especially powerful duo.

The chart below shows sample technical and human skills for the 10 jobs that have thrived in 2020:

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