Hiring Trends by Industry 2026
Healthcare leads US hiring with 74,016 postings in the last month, followed by Hospitals and Health Care and Staffing and Recruiting. Growing industries include Healthcare, Hospitals and Health Care, Staffing and Recruiting. Based on Canaria's analysis of 900M+ deduplicated job postings.
Monthly Job Postings by Industry
Top 8 industries by volume over the past 12 months
| Month | Healthcare | Hospitals and Health Care | Staffing and Recruiting | Retail & Wholesale | Retail | Human Resources & Staffing | Software Development | Technology, Information and Internet | Internet Marketplace Platforms | Construction |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| Sep 25 | 864 | 678 | 771 | 347 | 267 | 157 | 93 | 66 | 0 | 0 |
| Oct 25 | 16,004 | 16,003 | 13,083 | 7,124 | 4,065 | 3,771 | 2,451 | 2,034 | 0 | 0 |
| Nov 25 | 13,851 | 13,240 | 11,354 | 5,733 | 3,514 | 2,916 | 3,155 | 2,165 | 0 | 0 |
| Dec 25 | 13,946 | 12,644 | 9,701 | 5,720 | 2,885 | 2,742 | 3,299 | 1,912 | 0 | 0 |
| Jan 26 | 13,977 | 11,927 | 9,704 | 6,856 | 3,274 | 2,357 | 1,322 | 1,969 | 0 | 0 |
| Feb 26 | 10,417 | 9,304 | 7,224 | 6,711 | 2,835 | 1,806 | 1,350 | 1,900 | 0 | 0 |
| Mar 26 | 4,957 | 4,140 | 3,159 | 3,980 | 1,601 | 767 | 784 | 2,218 | 0 | 0 |
Current Industry Hiring Ranking
Job posting volume in the most recent month
| Rank | Industry | Postings |
|---|---|---|
| 1 | Healthcare | 74,016 |
| 2 | Hospitals and Health Care | 67,936 |
| 3 | Staffing and Recruiting | 54,996 |
| 4 | Retail & Wholesale | 36,471 |
| 5 | Retail | 18,441 |
| 6 | Human Resources & Staffing | 14,516 |
| 7 | Software Development | 12,454 |
| 8 | Technology, Information and Internet | 12,264 |
| 9 | Internet Marketplace Platforms | 11,257 |
| 10 | Construction | 10,387 |
Healthcare remains the dominant force in US hiring, driven by chronic staffing shortages across hospitals, clinics, and home care providers. The combined volume of "Healthcare" and "Hospitals and Health Care" categories reflects the industry's enormous and persistent demand for nurses, physicians, therapists, and support staff.
Staffing and recruiting firms represent a large share of posting volume because they advertise positions on behalf of hundreds of client companies. The retail sector shows seasonal patterns, with spikes around the holiday season and back-to-school periods. Technology hiring, while lower in absolute volume than healthcare or retail, carries higher salary levels and represents some of the most competitive talent markets.
Canaria classifies industry based on employer company profiles linked to each job posting. Because different sources (Indeed, LinkedIn, ATS portals) use different industry taxonomies, related categories may appear separately. The raw data includes the original companyIndustry field, allowing users to build custom industry groupings suited to their analysis.
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Frequently Asked Questions
- Which industry is hiring the most in 2026?
- Healthcare currently has the highest job posting volume with 74,016 postings in the most recent month. The top 3 industries by posting volume are Healthcare, Hospitals and Health Care, Staffing and Recruiting.
- Which industries are growing in hiring?
- Industries showing hiring growth over the past 6 months include Healthcare, Hospitals and Health Care, Staffing and Recruiting, Retail & Wholesale, Retail, Human Resources & Staffing. Growth is measured by comparing the most recent month's posting volume to 6 months prior.
- How does Canaria classify industries?
- Industry classification is derived from the employer's company profile, matched against standard industry taxonomies. Canaria normalizes company names and links them to firmographic data including industry, size, and headquarters.
- Why do some similar industries appear separately?
- Industries like 'Healthcare' and 'Hospitals and Health Care' reflect different classification sources (e.g., Indeed vs LinkedIn). Canaria preserves source-level granularity. Users can merge categories using the companyIndustry field in the raw data.
Data sourced from publicly available job postings. Updated March 2026. Analysis by Canaria Inc.