Weekly Insights

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.

Apr 21, 2026

AI is reshaping the role of the middle manager

As of Q1 2026, 12.9% of all middle manager job openings mention AI-related skills. And that share keeps climbing even as overall hiring cools. This is no longer a niche requirement reserved for tech-adjacent roles; AI literacy is becoming a baseline expectation for management. Even as total AI related job postings have declined from their 2025 peak, AI’s share of all manager openings continues to climb. Employers aren’t pulling back on AI, they’re just hiring less overall. The roles that remain are increasingly the ones that require it.

Apr 14, 2026

Accounting jobs declined compared to 2025

Every major accounting profession posted significant YoY declines, with losses relatively uniform across the board. Accounting clerks led the decline, with over a 30% YoY drop, but even credentialed roles offered no shelter. CPA and auditor job openings were each down over 25%. While AI automation may be accelerating this decline, firms are also doing more with fewer people, and that efficiency pressure is compressing headcount across every level of the organization.

Apr 7, 2026

Light industrial hiring dips at the start 2026

Job postings across manufacturing, transportation and warehousing, and wholesale trade fell to 1.48 million in Q1 2026, a modest 2.6% decline from Q4 2025. Warehousing and transportation led the pullback, dropping 17.4% from last quarter. However, manufacturing and wholesale trade were more resilient, with each adding more than 10,000 openings since last quarter and remaining broadly stable year over year.

Mar 31, 2026

Employers seek emotional intelligence and vision

Intuitive traits like reactivity and emotional intelligence surged in Q4 2025, up 49% and 8% respectively, as employers prioritize adaptability and interpersonal awareness. Meanwhile, show courage and non-verbal communication saw some of the steepest drops at -67% and -43%, respectively. Employers are favoring workers who can collaborate effectively in a team and read the room.

Mar 24, 2026

White collar job postings cut in half since 2023

Job openings in finance, IT, and public administration have fallen more than 50% since Q1 2023, though the impact varies by region. New York and Minneapolis were hit hardest, with declines of -69% and -66% respectively, while southern markets like Austin have proven more resilient, down just -36%. A brief mid-2025 rebound across most cities has since reversed,with Q1 2026 confirming the downturn is continuing.

Mar 17, 2026

Internship hiring slows as finance pulls back sharply

Internship hiring has slowed multiple industries since 2023, reflecting a more cautious approach to early-career recruiting. Declines have been particularly pronounced in sectors such as finance, IT, and healthcare; finance and insurance internship openings have dropped nearly 60% from Q1 2023. Finance has historically relied on internships to build pipelines for entry-level analyst roles, making the drop especially significant. Despite the broad pullback, manufacturing continues to offer the highest number of internship opportunities, underscoring the sector’s ongoing need to build skilled talent pipelines.

Mar 10, 2026

Administrative support relies heavily on temporary workers

Employers, wary of economic uncertainty, have been relying increasingly on temporary and other contingent workers to run their businesses, while maintaining the flexibility to quickly scale their workforce up or down if conditions change. But what industries have created the most temporary and contract roles in the first 10 weeks of the year? Administrative support roles dominate by a large margin, but retail, IT, and even education are also turning to contract workers.

Mar 3, 2026

Healthcare hiring is concentrated in clinical roles

Despite mounting burnout and administrative challenges, non-clinical job openings in areas like HR, IT, and management, are down more than 30% since Q2 2022. Meanwhile, clinical job openings across nursing, therapy, and direct care roles are up roughly 5% over the same period, with clinical roles now accounting for nearly two-thirds of healthcare openings. The healthcare sector is focusing on care delivery over infrastructure and securing patient-facing talent.

Feb 24, 2026

Remote roles still represent a significant part of the job market

After peaking at 13% of all job openings Q2 2022, the share of remote roles steadily declined through 2023 and much of 2024, bottoming out at 9% in early 2025. A brief rebound in mid-2025 pushed remote roles higher but the gains have since reversed, with levels still below the 2022 peak. While remote work is no longer expanding at the pace seen during the pandemic, it remains a significant factor for job seekers, pushing employers to balance return-to-office mandates with flexibility.