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 contract hiring.
Month ending 31 May 2026 Last updated 2 June 2026
Perm fill rate up 15% year over year
Permanent job orders were down 9% in May and 5% compared to May of last year, signaling a slowdown in pipeline. However, the job orders per consultant have been up on average 3% year over year in 2026, so there is still some momentum in the market. And perm fill rate jumped 15% this month, putting it 15% over May of 2025, so clients are still moving to fill the open job orders they do have. In fact, the fill rate for permanent placements is higher than for temporary jobs for the first time this year.
Contract job orders tumbled 12% this month after starting the year strong, the biggest monthly decline in 2026 so far. Contract job orders are down 9% year over year, showing some ongoing weakness. And although fill rate remains relatively resilient, it did fall by 1% this month, the first decline all year, suggesting a pullback in client hiring confidence even for contingent labor. The good news is that fill rate remains up 3% year over year and recruiter effort is holding steady, so it isn’t a dire situation yet, but it is worth watching to see if this negative trend continues.
Temp job orders down 12% in May
Permanent fill rate surges this month
Recruiter effort holds steady
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.
