Are job orders going up or down? And what does it take to fill them? Each month, Bullhorn tracks key indicators from our proprietary data to reveal changes in the global hiring landscape. Check in at the start of every month for the latest trends in permanent and temporary hiring.
Month ending August 31, 2026 Last updated September 8, 2026
Temporary job orders drop more than usual in late summer
Temporary job orders fell about 4% in August. There is often a dip in orders in the late summer, but this was a slightly bigger than the typical late summer slowdown. Temporary job orders are still about 1% ahead of August 2025, but this still represents a bit of a slowdown as temp job orders had been running 4-5% ahead of last year for most of 2026. Temp fill rate held steady, as did recruiter effort. We are seeing a small deceleration in the temp market, perhaps as employers wait to see how macroeconomic events are going to play out.
Permanent job orders were largely unchanged this month, as were submissions per order, so a very stable month. The good news is this puts permanent pipeline almost 11% above where it was this time in 2025. And, after a tough July, perm fill rate bounced back to its July level, continuing the acceleration the staffing market has seen for the last few years.
Perm job orders are 11% higher than in 2025
Permanent fill rate up 7% compared to 2025
Recruiter effort holds steady across the industry
Methodology
Hiring outlook metrics were calculated from Bullhorn ATS data for customers that have opted in to share aggregated data. Customers were qualified as professional or commercial if the majority of their placements were within these industries. Temporary/contingent placements are those with a set end date; permanent/direct hire placements are those without.
Jobs orders per recruiter is calculated as the volume of job order records created divided by the unique number of users within the calendar month.
Job fill rate is calculated as the proportion of job order records that were placed within 90 days of their open date. This is a trailing indicator that covers jobs created three calendar months prior to the period.
Submissions per job order is calculated as the volume of client submissions divided by the volume of job orders in the period. This metric represents records created in the previous calendar month.
