MENLO PARK, Calif., Feb. 06, 2026 (GLOBE NEWSWIRE) — Joveo, the global leader in AI-led, high-performance recruitment marketing, today released its Recruiting Benchmarks Report 2026. The report offers a data-driven look at how the US labor market transformed in 2025 – creating two parallel realities for talent acquisition teams.
In one, applicant volume surged. In the other, it remained flat. And while national headlines pointed to a cooling job market, employers continued to face very different challenges depending on the roles they were trying to fill.
“Most recruiting benchmarks still describe the labor market as a single story. That’s no longer true,” said Kshitij Jain (KJ), Founder and CEO of Joveo. “Our data shows two labor markets operating at the same time – excess volume in some roles, real scarcity in others. This report helps talent acquisition leaders see where they’re over-investing, where they’re under-served, and how to adjust based on what’s actually happening.”
“It’s become a consensus view amongst talent acquisition professionals that the surge in job applicant volume is increasing time to hire,” added Hung Lee, Curator of Recruiting Brainfood. “The traditional hiring funnel in many cases can no longer operate under the volume of applications which are now standard per job post.”
Key findings from the report:
- The Applicant Avalanche: Up to 9x growth in applicant volume in certain occupations between November 2022 and November 2025.
- Labor Market Split: For some white-collar jobs, recruiters faced more applicants than they could reasonably review. Meanwhile, location-bound, licensed roles remained supply-constrained, with no meaningful relief in candidate volume.
- Volume Isn’t Progress: The increase in applicant volume didn’t translate into easier hiring for employers. Manual screening emerged as the bottleneck. Recruiters often hired from the first wave of applicants and never reached the best-fit candidates buried deeper in the queue.
- Experience Became a Filter: In applicant flooded roles, employers became more selective and raised experience requirements. Tech postings asking for 5+ years of experience rose from 37% to 42%. That shift reduced entry ramps and pushed up employer costs.
- Structural Constraints, Not Cyclical Trends: In jobs requiring licensed or credentialed talent, macro conditions didn’t create more talent supply. Recruiters still faced long time-to-fill windows.
The Recruiting Benchmarks 2026 Report draws on Joveo’s Interactive Insights platform, along with data from TalentNeuron, Talroo, and JobGet. It covers activity across 16 major occupations in all US states, representing millions of job postings and applications.
Download the full report at www.joveo.com/recruiting-benchmarks-report-2026.
About Joveo
As the global leader in AI-powered, high-performance recruitment marketing, Joveo is transforming talent attraction and recruitment media buying for the world’s largest employers, staffing firms, RPOs, and media agencies. The Joveo platform enables businesses to attract, source, engage, and hire the best candidates on time and within budget.
Powering millions of jobs every day, Joveo’s AI-led recruitment marketing platform uses advanced data science and machine learning to dynamically manage and optimize talent sourcing and applications across all online channels, while providing real-time insights at every step of the job seeker journey, from click to hire.
For more information about Joveo’s award-winning platform and solutions, visit www.joveo.com.
Media Contact
Heather van Werkhooven
Sr. Director, Content and Thought Leadership, Joveo
pr@joveo.com