Problem-solving and dedication rise in popularity with employers
June saw problem-solving, hard work, and analytical thinking return to the list of most in-demand soft skills. Problem-solving is definitely one that has shown up multiple times this year, and reflects the complexity of the current work environment and exactly where human judgment is still needed even as AI becomes increasingly a part of jobs. And hard work and dedication speak to the need to have employees who are self-motivated and really going to give 100% on the job.
Associate’s degree roles see biggest growth in May
Communication jobs are garnering higher salary increases than any other field right now, belying the suggestion that marketing and communication jobs are being entirely replaced by AI. It appears employers still highly value those humans in the loop who are going to manage and deploy those AI agents. And it is no surprise that transport, warehousing, and construction are all on the top list. These are the some of the same areas that demonstrated the highest resilience in the most recent Employment Situation Report.
Methodology
Market IQ collects job postings daily from over 7 million+ websites in the U.S. Our system automatically identifies, extracts, and structures job data into 100+ attributes using Textkernel’s AI powered parsing technology. Each posting is normalized against professional taxonomies, enriched with company information, and deduplicated using sophisticated algorithms to identify unique job opportunities. The system maintains high levels of accuracy through automated quality controls and continuous improvement processes, making it a trusted source for U.S. labor market insights.
Skills
Market IQ utilizes Textkernel’s proprietary Skills Normalization Taxonomy (SNT) to extract and normalize skills from job postings. Our taxonomy encompasses 13,200+ unique skill concepts mapped through 250,000+ terms, covering professional skills, IT skills, soft skills, and languages. Using advanced machine learning, the system identifies skills in context, disambiguates ambiguous terms, and normalizes them to standardized concepts—enabling accurate cross-market analysis regardless of how employers phrase skill requirements. The taxonomy is continuously updated quarterly based on millions of job postings, market feedback, and labor market trends. This data-driven approach ensures Market IQ captures both established and emerging skills as they appear in the U.S. job market, providing unparalleled insights into skill demand across industries and regions. All analysis of skills excludes any skills that appear in fewer than 10,000 job descriptions.
