Weekly Insights

Oct 6, 2026

Transportation and warehousing leads a broad light industrial rebound, up 41.45% YoY

Light industrial posted its strongest quarter in years in Q3, with total openings up 29.8% YoY, the fourth straight quarter of growth. Transportation and warehousing led the gains, up 41.45% YoY, as e-commerce and logistics demand keeps building. Wholesale trade followed close behind at 33.17% YoY, and manufacturing rounded out the picture at 23.44% YoY, its strongest quarter since 2024. The ongoing data center construction boom is likely a factor across all three, driving demand for the manufacturing, equipment, and logistics work needed to build and supply these projects, on top of the skilled trades hiring they require directly.

Sep 29, 2026

Cloud roles surge as analyst openings pulls back

Cloud specialist openings in IT are up 192.7% year over year, followed by customer success manager (+78.4%), business advisor (+77.3%), and software engineer (+40.2%), all roles tied to infrastructure, growth, or client relationships. Financial analyst openings are down -14.5% year over year, business analyst down -22.9%, technical support specialist down -27.7%, and data scientist down -47.9%. The divide suggests employers are investing in roles that build or sell technology while pulling back on roles built around analysis and internal support.

Sep 22, 2026

Reliability and composure drive healthcare hiring

As AI absorbs more routine triage and documentation, healthcare employers are screening less for how well someone talks and more for whether they’ll stay steady under pressure. Communication skills grew just 5.4% YoY, while trust and composure surged: confident and emotionally stable candidates are up 186.9%, persuasiveness is up 124.8%, reliability is up 111.5%, and trustworthiness is up 50.2%. Curiosity (-30.9%) and ethics (-34.5%) posted the steepest declines, suggesting dependability now outweighs spark in patient-facing hiring.

Sep 15, 2026

Summer retail job openings end on a high

Retail job openings gained steady ground this summer, with July jumping over 13% month over month, and August adding another 0.3% to close out the season. While June dipped from May’s high, the mid-summer rebound signals renewed employer confidence heading into fall. If this trajectory holds, retailers may be gearing up for a robust Q4 hiring push ahead of the holiday season.

Sep 8, 2026

Skilled trades pull ahead as white collar hiring slips

Skilled trade job openings rose 5.49% YoY in Q2 2026, while white collar postings fell -3.01% over the same period. The gain fits a broader 2026 pattern as light industrial roles have become the engine of hiring, fueled in part by the ongoing wave of AI data center construction that keeps demand high for electricians, HVAC technicians, and other trades. White collar hiring shows no comparable tailwind, underscoring how unevenly labor demand is distributing across the market.

Sep 1, 2026

Support roles surge in healthcare hiring while licensed clinical roles lag

Healthcare job openings in 2026 reveal a clear divide by skill level. Low license roles like receptionists, dental assistants, and home health aides are surging as health systems shift work to the lowest billable level possible. Licensed clinical roles like RNs and PAs are growing more gradually by comparison. The exception is primary care, where GP and NP openings are up 23% and 12% respectively and demand is holding often because there is no cheaper substitute for a diagnosing clinician.

Aug 25, 2026

AI data center hiring keeps climbing in 2026

Data center job openings have held near record highs through 2026, signaling sustained investment in AI infrastructure. That demand is now showing up in actual staffing activity: the SIA | Bullhorn Staffing Indicator shows industrial hours ramping sharply since spring, driven in part by data center construction alongside other light industrial demand. Professional and IT hours are up too, tied to broader AI adoption across fields.

Aug 18, 2026

Healthcare hiring surges in Sunbelt metros

Healthcare hiring continues to split along geographic lines. In Seattle, job openings fell 28.76% YoY amid a wave of hospital layoffs; New York, Portland, DC, and Boston all posted double digit declines as higher cost coastal systems face margin pressure and, in DC’s case, federal workforces are reduced. Meanwhile, Sunbelt metros are still expanding: Charlotte and Orlando grew 17.10% and 14.48%, respectively, And other cities like Phoenix, Jacksonville, and Houston are adding healthcare jobs, all fueled by population growth and new hospital capacity. Healthcare labor demand is moving away from strained coastal systems and toward Sunbelt corridors where population growth, particularly among retirees, is outpacing existing healthcare capacity.

Aug 11, 2026

Atlanta leads food and accommodations openings

Despite a broader pullback in food and accommodations hiring, job openings in Atlanta are up over 80% since January. Houston and Dallas are the only two major markets posting outright declines over the same time period. However, job openings in New York, Las Vegas, Chicago, and LA have stayed largely flat. This comes as the leisure and hospitality industry contracted by 40,000 jobs in July nationally, bringing its two-month decline to over 80,000.

Aug 4, 2026

Real estate contract openings surge by 39%

Temporary, contract, and freelance openings diverged sharply from Q1 to Q2. Real estate, professional services, and finance posted the largest gains, as employers lean on flexible talent to manage growth without committing to permanent headcount. Manufacturing and healthcare held steady at 18% and 17%, respectively. IT bucked the trend, falling 42.4% since Q1 2026, possibly reflecting that crucial ongoing projects have already been staffed. But overall, employers continue to hedge against uncertainty through contract hiring.

Jul 28, 2026

Remote hiring continues to stabilize

Remote work remains a durable part of the labor market as employers balance return-to-office strategies with continued demand for flexibility. After declining from pandemic-era peaks, the share of remote job openings has settled into a more stable pattern, with Q2 2026 marking a seasonal rebound in demand. While remote roles represent a smaller share of hiring than in previous years, flexibility remains a key differentiator for employers seeking to attract specialized talent for hard-to-fill positions.

Jul 21, 2026

Job openings requiring AI skills climbs to a record 8.96% in Q2 2026

The share of job openings mentioning AI-related skills continues to climb, rising from 7.57% in Q4 2025 to 8.96% in Q2 2026. The dip in Q1 looks less like hesitation and more like a sign that AI is settling into the market as a baseline expectation rather than a novelty. AI skills are becoming a cornerstone of the job market, a trend that is likely to continue across industries and roles for the foreseeable future.

Jul 14, 2026

IT employers prioritize business-minded talent

As IT hiring continues to recover, employers are placing greater value on professionals who can pair technical expertise with business judgment. The sharp rise in demand for trustworthiness and commercial knowledge suggests that organizations are looking for talent that can securely manage increasingly complex technologies, while aligning technical decisions with business goals. The trend also aligns with a broader shift across the labor market, where employers are increasingly prioritizing human skills that complement technical expertise, as AI takes on more routine work.

Jul 7, 2026

Light industrial hiring rebound in Q2 led by transportation and wholesale trade

After a softer start to the year, hiring demand across the light industrial sector accelerated in Q2 2026. Transportation and warehousing posted the strongest gain from last quarter, with job openings rising more than 20% from Q1 levels. Wholesale trade also posted a 23.6% YoY increase, while manufacturing recorded its second consecutive quarter of growth. This shows continued momentum and operational expansion across industrial supply chains, potentially signaling stronger demand for talent through the second half of 2026.

Jun 30, 2026

Temporary finance contracts decline 32% year over year

Permanent finance job openings grew 8% from Q1 2025 to Q1 2026, providing a bright spot in a still-recovering market. Temporary contracts tell a different story, dropping 32% over the same period from 27k to 19k openings. The pullback heading into 2026 suggests employers are taking a more conservative approach to contingent finance hiring, and that caution appears to be finance-specific. The financial sector posted some of the steepest job losses of any sector in early 2026, even as the broader economy continued to add jobs.

Jun 23, 2026

Higher wage job openings nearly tripled since 2022

Job openings paying $60K or more have surged from 14.3% of US postings in 2022 to 39.1% in 2026, nearly tripling their share of the market in just four years. But that growth is slowing. After climbing 10.9 points in 2023, the $60K+ share rose just 5.8 points in 2025. Under $60K roles still hold a clear majority at 60.9%, though wage inflation pushes roles across the line even when the work hasn’t changed. As wage growth has cooled, the rebalancing toward higher-paying work appears to be nearing a ceiling.

Jun 16, 2026

Bachelor’s level job openings continue to decline

Job openings requiring a bachelor’s degree have steadily declined for the last few years, down about 14% in Q12026 compared to the year before, then 21% in Q2 2026. The decline isn’t limited to four-year degrees as postings for master’s, associate’s, and vocational roles all fell more than 29% from a year ago, while only Ph.D. roles held fairly steady. While the labor market is slowly recovering from 2025 levels, bachelor’s level roles still make up the largest share of openings, close to 39%.

Jun 9, 2026

Sales and management roles fuel demand for AI fluency

As of Q2 2026, more than 1 in 5 sales and trading job postings mentioned AI skills, nearly double the share from a year ago. Management and governance roles follow at 14%, also up sharply YoY. Meanwhile IT, once the clear leader, has been overtaken by several occupational groups, as AI fluency spreads into nearly every corner of the business.

Jun 2, 2026

Retail openings rise 3.4% year over year in May

Retail job openings grew 10.6% from April to May 2026 and posted a 3.4% YoY increase, compared to last May. With summer months ahead and seasonal hiring typically picking up, this momentum is worth monitoring as an early indicator of where retail hiring is headed in the second half of the year.

May 26, 2026

Temporary IT job openings up 22% YoY

Permanent IT job openings held relatively flat YoY, growing just 3% from Q1 2025 to Q1 2026. Temporary contracts climbed 22% over the same period, peaking at 59,000 openings in Q4 2025, nearly five times the volume seen a year prior. This aligns with the SIA | Bullhorn Staffing Indicator, which shows IT hours continuing to gain momentum. Employers continue to turn to contingent IT labor to meet demand and move projects forward, without committing to permanent headcount.

May 19, 2026

Demand for transportation roles in light industrial is surging

As seen in the SIA | Bullhorn staffing indicator this week, the light industrial sector is booming. Light industrial job openings saw a significant return to growth in April, signaling that this trend is likely to continue. The growth in job openings was largely driven by demand for transportation roles. Delivery driver openings are up 66.7% YoY, while CDL Class A/B Driver demand has jumped 58.2%. Repair and maintenance technicians, critical to keeping fleets and facilities running, are up 16.8%. But the gains stretch well beyond logistics and transportation. Software engineers and sales representatives are up nearly 50% and 44% respectively, pointing to a sector investing in both technology and revenue growth. Even traditional roles like warehouse associates and machine operators are seeing steady gains, signaling broad-based momentum across the segment.

May 12, 2026

Employers seeking critical thinkers, not just communicators

For new grads of 2026, employers are looking for decisive and detail-oriented candidates who can communicate effectively. Attention to detail has seen the sharpest rise YoY, up 9.2%, followed by critical thinking at 7.7%. Decision making and communication skills are also among the top-growing competencies, though at a more moderate pace. Employers are seeking candidates who demonstrate independent thinking and sound judgement, rather than those who are simply strong communicators.

May 5, 2026

Travel nursing openings have been cut in half from last quarter

Healthcare saw a widespread contraction in Q1 2026, with travel nursing leading the decline, as postings fell 46% in a single quarter.. Licensed practical nursing, social worker, and radiology technician openings each dropped 15-19% since Q4 2025. The only exception was physician assistants, down just 3% from last quarter, as they absorb demand while health systems rebalance their workforce away from costly contract labor.

Apr 28, 2026

Fewer openings for new grads in major cities

America’s top grad hiring cities are posting far fewer openings than in recent years. New York remains the clear leader, but openings for new grads are down more than 20% just from Q1 2025, with Chicago seeing a similar decline Boston remains the most resilient with only a 9.4% drop YoY, but no city has been spared. For graduates targeting large metropolitan area, competition for available roles has intensified significantly.