Recruitment Statistics 2026

Top AI recruiting tasks

Among organizations using AI for recruiting, the most common tasks are writing job descriptions, screening resumes and automating candidate searches.

Salary disclosure on job ads, by country

Pay transparency on job ads has stalled across Europe despite the EU directive — ranging from just 12% of ads in Germany to 56% in the UK.

Jobs created vs displaced by 2030

By 2030, structural trends will create 170 million jobs and displace 92 million — a net gain of 78 million, equal to 22% of current jobs disrupted.

Employers dropping degree requirements

More than half of employers (53%) have removed degree requirements in 2025, up from 30% in 2024 (57% in the US).

Cost-per-hire, exec vs nonexec (2017 to 2025)

Median cost-per-hire has split sharply: nonexecutive fell to $1,200 (down 27% since 2017) while executive climbed to $10,625 (up 113%).

Global employee engagement (2009 to 2025)

Global employee engagement fell to 20% in 2025 — its lowest since 2020 — after peaking at 23% in 2022–2023.

Where remote-capable US employees work

Remote-capable US work settled into a durable equilibrium: after the 2020 spike to 70% fully remote, hybrid became the norm at ~52% while fully on-site fell to ~21%.

Global gender gap, by dimension

The world has nearly closed its health and education gender gaps, but the economic gap (61%) and especially the political gap (22.9%) lag far behind.

Job vacancy rate by country

The euro-area job vacancy rate was 2.2% in Q4 2025 (EU 2.0%), with the Netherlands the tightest labour market at 3.9%.

Global unemployment held steady at 4.9% in 2024, while the global jobs gap shrank from 16% in 2004 to 9% in 2024.

US job openings stood at 6.9 million (a 4.2% rate) in February 2026.

The US unemployment rate was 4.3% in May 2026 and has held in a narrow 4.3–4.5% band since July 2025 (average hourly earnings +3.4% over the year).

UK job postings sat 19% below their pre-pandemic baseline in late 2025.

52% of global workers said it was a good time to find a job in 2025 — still below the 2019 peak of 55%.

Nearly 7 in 10 organizations (69%) report difficulty recruiting for full-time regular positions.

The average OECD employment rate hit a record 72.1% in early 2025, with labour-force participation also at an all-time high of 76.6%.

Old-age dependency ratio is rising

The OECD's old-age dependency ratio is projected to rise from 31% (2023) to 52% by 2060, as the working-age population shrinks 8% — a structural talent squeeze.

Youth unemployment (under-25s) was 14.8% in the euro area in January 2026 (15.1% across the EU) — 2.9 million young people.

EU labour-market slack (unused labour potential) fell to 11.7% of the extended labour force in 2024 — 26.7 million people — down from 18.6% in 2015.

The US labour-force participation rate is projected to slip from 62.6% in 2023 to 61.2% by 2033 as the workforce ages, even as participation among those 75+ rises.

Organizations using AI in HR tasks jumped to 43% in 2025, up from 26% a year earlier.

63% of US job seekers have faced an AI-led interview (up 13 points in six months), yet 70% were never told upfront that AI would evaluate them.

74% of US job seekers personally use AI during the hiring process.

41% of US job seekers admit using 'prompt injections' (hidden text to beat AI filters); of those who don't, 52% are considering it.

91% of recruiters have spotted candidate deception, and 34% spend up to half their week filtering spam and junk applications.

82% of leaders are confident they will use 'digital labor' (AI agents) to expand workforce capacity within 12–18 months.

78% of leaders are considering hiring for AI-specific roles such as AI trainers or agent specialists — rising to 95% at AI-mature 'Frontier Firms.'

5.6% of UK job postings explicitly mention AI or related tools — the highest share among peer economies (US, Germany, France, Canada, Australia).

Forecast: by 2027, 75% of hiring processes will include certifications and tests for workplace AI proficiency.

70% of hiring managers say AI helps them make faster, better hiring decisions — but only 8% of job seekers think AI makes hiring more fair.

Only 26% of job candidates trust AI to evaluate them fairly, even though 52% believe AI screens their application.

Gartner predicts that by 2028, one in four candidate profiles worldwide will be fake; 6% of candidates already admit to interview fraud.

Offer-acceptance fell sharply as AI uncertainty made candidates choosier: 51% accepted their most recent offer in Q2 2025, down from 74% in Q2 2023.

84% of developers now use or plan to use AI tools (up from 76% in 2024), yet only 33% trust the accuracy of AI output.

AI hiring is highly concentrated — nearly 90% of US AI-related job postings came from just 1% of firms in 2025; the share of firms posting any AI role rose from ~2% (2018) to ~6%.

AI at work has gone mainstream

By 2024, 75% of knowledge workers were already using AI at work, 78% of them bringing their own tools — and 66% of leaders say they would not hire someone without AI skills.

US employers expect health-benefit cost per employee to rise 6.5% in 2026 — the largest increase in 15 years and a fourth straight year above 5%.

Medical benefit cost rise, by region

Global employer medical-benefit costs are projected to rise 10.4% in 2025 — a third straight year of double-digit increases — led by Asia Pacific.

Looking to 2030, 52% of employers plan to spend a greater share of revenue on wages, while only 7% expect to spend less.

US compensation costs for private-industry workers rose 3.4% over the 12 months ending March 2026 (wages +3.4%, benefits +3.6%).

US women's median full-time weekly earnings were $1,098 in Q1 2026 — 80.6% of the $1,362 median for men.

In January 2026, US year-over-year pay growth was 4.5% for job-stayers vs 6.4% for job-changers — the smallest switching premium since 2020.

US job postings showing pay information rose to 57.8% by September 2024, up from 52.2% a year earlier.

US companies plan average salary-budget increases of 3.4% for 2026 (holding steady), while merit raises eased from 3.5% in 2024 to 3.0% in 2025.

US advertised wage growth slowed to 2.5% year-over-year by September 2025 (from 3.4% in January), falling behind inflation.

EU hourly labour costs rose 4.0% year-on-year in Q2 2025 (euro area +3.6%), with wage costs up slightly faster than non-wage costs.

Benefits make up nearly a third (29.9%) of total employer compensation costs for US private-industry workers — $13.79 of $46.15 per hour.

The average employer family health premium reached $26,993 in 2025, up 6% — outpacing wage growth (4%) and inflation (2.7%); workers contribute $6,850.

US jobs by GenAI exposure

A quarter of US jobs (26%) are highly exposed to GenAI transformation, 54% moderately, and 20% minimally — based on 53.5M job postings.

Skills-based hiring expands the talent pool

Hiring on skills rather than job titles dramatically expands the eligible talent pool — 6.1x globally, and far more for AI roles and in the US.

Core skills are still changing fast

Employers expect 39% of workers' core skills to change by 2030 — down from a 57% peak in 2020 and 44% in 2023, signalling stabilising but still-high skill churn.

63% of employers cite the skills gap as the biggest barrier to business transformation through 2030.

59% of the global workforce will need reskilling or upskilling by 2030, but 11% are unlikely to receive it — leaving 120M+ workers at risk.

77% of employers plan to upskill staff for AI, while 41% expect to cut headcount as AI automates tasks.

By 2030, 70% of the skills used in most jobs will change, with AI as the catalyst.

Up to 30% of hours worked in the US economy could be automated by 2030 — 29.5% with generative AI vs 21.5% without.

The skills employers seek are changing 66% faster in the most AI-exposed jobs, and AI-skilled workers command a 56% wage premium.

For hiring through 2030, employers will rely most on work experience (81%), then skills assessments (48%), with degree requirements lowest (43%).

Skills-based hiring adoption

Skills-based hiring has gone mainstream — adoption rose from 56% of employers in 2022 to 85% in 2025.

97% of employers are using or actively exploring skills-based hiring — a 20-point jump from 77% in 2023.

The share of US job postings requiring at least a bachelor's degree fell from 20.4% to 17.8% over five years; 52% of postings now mention no formal education requirement.

Despite the wave of dropped degree requirements, the change showed up in fewer than 1 in 700 hires — only ~97,000 incremental non-degree hires out of ~77 million.

Skills-based hiring: promise vs practice

Among firms that dropped degree requirements, only 37% actually changed who they hired; 45% changed in name only and 18% backslid.

88% of organizations that adopted skills-based hiring saw a reduction in mis-hires.

76% of employers now use skills tests to validate candidates — the most popular skills-based hiring method.

54% of US organizations use pre-employment skills assessments, and 78% of those say the assessments improved the quality of their hires.

93% of talent-acquisition professionals say accurately assessing a candidate's skills is crucial to improving quality of hire.

Employees hired on potential (foundation plus willingness to learn) are 1.9x more likely to perform effectively than those hired for full proficiency — yet 51% of managers still ask for all desired skills.

Why job seekers abandon applications

35% of job seekers will abandon an application that takes too long — especially when forced to re-enter resume info, join a talent network, or register to apply.

How many applications seekers expect to send

Most job seekers expect a short search: 70% expect to be hired within 10 applications (36% within five).

How fast candidates expect to hear back

57% of job seekers expect to hear back within three days if they have not been selected for a role.

Two-thirds of job seekers (66%) say they feel burned out from searching for a job.

Company culture drives the decision to apply

Across markets, three-quarters or more of candidates say a company's culture and external brand influence their decision to apply.

Why candidates accept an offer

Candidates most often cite higher pay, career growth and work-life balance as the reasons they accept a job offer.

Candidates ghosted after a job interview rose to 61% in late 2024, up from 52% in April 2024.

In any given quarter, 18–22% of jobs posted on the Greenhouse platform are 'ghost jobs' — advertised with no intent to hire.

One in five candidates (20%) have rejected a job offer because of a poor interview experience.

72% of candidates say the job they applied for turned out to be different from what was offered.

38% of candidates have walked away from a hiring process because it included an AI interview — and another 12% say they would.

Candidates receiving an offer in their most recent process fell to 63% in Q3 2024, down from 73% in October 2023; the median number of offers fell from 3 to 1.

Candidates more likely to apply when a job ad includes the salary rose to 72% in Q3 2024, up from 64% in Q1 2023.

69% of US/Canada job seekers cite higher pay as a top reason for searching — the most-cited motivator across eight countries (49% cite better benefits).

Among 2024 Glassdoor reviews mentioning return-to-office, 75% listed RTO among the company's cons (RTO mentions up 196% year-over-year).

Source of hire: applications vs hires

Job boards generate most applications but a smaller share of hires, while careers pages and referrals punch far above their application volume.

How much likelier each source is to be hired

Referred candidates are 10x more likely to be hired than job-board applicants, careers-page applicants 4x, and custom/niche-source applicants 14x.

Employers averaged 180 applicants per hire in 2024 (up from 93 a year earlier), interviewing just 3% of applicants and converting 27% of interviews to hires.

Employers took an average of 4.9 days to make first contact with an applicant in 2024.

Conversion rate by sourcing channel

Relationship-driven sources out-convert inbound by huge margins: referrals convert at 11x inbound, internal mobility at 32x, and sourced candidates at ~8x.

Nearly half (46%) of sourced hires now come from rediscovered candidates already in the company's CRM/ATS — up from 26% in 2021.

Social channels recruiters use

LinkedIn is the dominant social recruiting channel (71%), with Facebook a close second, ahead of Instagram, X, YouTube and TikTok.

Where talent teams are increasing spend

64% of talent teams planned to increase recruiting budgets, led by AI tools (71%), with job advertising and sourcing/RPO also rising.

Programmatic job-ad apply rates rose to 6.1% by the end of 2024 (a 35% rise over the year), with cost-per-hire around $851.

Most effective employer-brand channels

Recruiters rank job boards (67%) and social media (54%) as the most effective channels for building their employer brand, ahead of referrals and career sites.

Recruiting team headcount is down 14% versus 2021, with the decline finally stabilizing — TA teams have reset at a leaner baseline.

Recruiters are managing 13.4 open roles at a time while handling 93% more applications than in 2021.

The share of recruiters who find their job more stressful year-on-year eased to 54% in 2024, down from 65% in 2022 — though 92% remain optimistic about recruiting's future.

72% of talent-acquisition decision-makers anticipate hiring more in the year ahead.

Requisitions per recruiter, by org size

The median recruiter manages 20 job requisitions a year — but the load climbs steeply with organization size, to 60 at extra-large firms.

Top recruiter stressors

Recruiters' top stressors are a lack of qualified candidates, competition from other employers, and more open roles to fill.

Recruiter workload rose 26% in a single quarter as AI-fueled mass applications surged.

55% of US organizations have dedicated in-house recruiters in 2025 (48% in 2017, 58% in 2022).

Only 20% of organizations measure quality of hire in 2025 — down from 27% in 2022.

61% of recruiting executives say a lack of qualified candidates is a challenge; 31% call it their most pressing one.

Recruiters using generative AI save about 20% of their work week — a full workday saved weekly.

37% of recruiting teams are integrating or experimenting with generative AI — up from 27% a year earlier.

65% of recruiters use AI to augment their recruiting tech; of those reporting lower stress, 42% credit their organization's AI investment.

Hiring funnels are brutally selective: only 8% of applicants advance past initial screening and just 0.5% receive an offer — roughly one hire per 200 applications.

The average number of interviews per hire has risen 33% since 2021, as precision supersedes speed.

Once candidates reach the offer stage, 82% accept — the highest offer-acceptance rate since 2021, even as hiring cycles lengthen.

Average time-to-fill dropped seven days year-on-year, from 48 to 41 days (enterprise 46 → 35; SMB 49 → 46).

Interview funnel passthrough rates

Early stages screen hard while later stages convert high — a recruiter screen passes ~35% of candidates, but 95% clear post-onsite and 81% accept at the offer stage.

The median time to fill an open role reached 56.7 days in 2025 — a 37% increase since 2022.

Applications per open role rose 111% — from roughly 115 in 2022 to 244 in 2025.

In 2025, 69.8% of jobs closed with a hire, averaging 22.7 interviews and 12.3 interview-hours per hire.

Median time-to-fill is about a month and a half (44 days nonexec, 45 exec), rising to ~60 days at extra-large organizations.

Senior roles take 37% longer to fill than junior roles, and technical roles take ~15 days longer than business roles.

Referred candidates pass initial screens at 52%, versus 35% for candidates overall, and accept offers at higher rates.

83% of job seekers are likely to research a company's reviews and ratings when deciding where to apply.

Beyond pay, students increasingly prioritize fair treatment and flexibility as core EVP attributes.

53% of job seekers look for more company information after reading a job post — investigating the employer before applying.

Topics shaping recruiting

Recruiters name quality of hire, employer branding and candidate experience as the top topics shaping recruiting over the next five years.

57% of recruiting pros expect investment in employer branding to rise — the function expected to see the biggest budget increase, two years running.

Employers seen as offering flexible work get 29% more applications from job-viewers and 16% more InMail acceptances.

The importance of flexible work as an employer value proposition grew 10% among all job seekers — and 14% among Gen Z — from 2021 to 2023.

68% of talent professionals at the World's Most Attractive Employers prioritize employer branding.

Global employee engagement breakdown

Globally, 64% of employees are not engaged and 16% actively disengaged — only 20% are engaged.

What it costs to replace an employee

Replacing an employee costs roughly 40% of salary for frontline roles, 80% for technical roles, and up to 200% for leaders.

42% of employees who voluntarily left say their manager or organization could have prevented it.

US workers open to leaving

51% of US employees were actively looking (11%) or watching (40%) for a new job in late 2025 — elevated turnover risk.

Only a third of employees are thriving

Just 34% of employees globally are thriving in life, while 56% are struggling and 9% suffering — a drag on retention and performance.

Manager vs employee engagement

Manager engagement collapsed from 31% in 2022 to 22% in 2025, erasing the 'manager premium' over individual contributors.

Low engagement cost the world economy about $10 trillion in lost productivity — equal to 9% of global GDP.

US employee engagement fell to a 10-year low of 31% in 2024, down from a 36% peak in 2020 (17% are actively disengaged).

US workers voluntarily quit 3.0 million jobs in February 2026, a 1.9% quits rate.

US job satisfaction was 62.7% overall, but fully on-site workers were least satisfied (60.2%) and hybrid workers most satisfied (65.5%); remote 64.1%.

55% of the global workforce reported financial strain in 2025, up from 52% in 2024.

Workers' intent to ask for a pay rise fell from 43% to 37% year-on-year, and intent to seek a promotion from 35% to 32% — signs of lower mobility.

How US employees split: on-site, hybrid, remote

By mid-2024, 61% of US full-time employees were fully on-site, 27% hybrid and 12% fully remote.

About 29% of all paid full working days in the US were done from home in mid-2024 — far above pre-pandemic levels but stable.

Required office days per week

The average US firm required 2.78 office days a week by Q4 2024, creeping up from 2.49 two quarters earlier.

52.9% of EU enterprises (10+ employees) held remote meetings in 2024, up nearly 3 points since 2022 — remote collaboration is now embedded.

Results of the UK four-day-week trial

In the UK's landmark four-day-week trial, 92% of companies kept the four-day week, with burnout down for 71% of staff and resignations down 57%.

Federal return-to-office shock

After the 2025 return-to-office order, US federal hybrid work collapsed from 61% to 28% in two quarters while fully on-site jumped to 46% (vs a 21% national average).

46% of US remote-capable workers say they'd be unlikely to stay if they could no longer work from home — including 26% very unlikely.

Among remote-capable workers who aren't fully remote, 75% now face an in-office requirement — up from 63% in early 2023.

Hybrid workers are now in the office about 46% of the week (~2.3 days) in 2025, up from 42% in 2022.

The broken rung: women promoted to manager

For every 100 men promoted to a first manager role, only 93 women are — and far fewer women of color (82 Latinas/Asian women, 60 Black women).

DEI keeps spreading among employers: 83% report a DEI initiative in 2025, up from 67% in 2023.

In 2024 only 22.7% of US people with a disability were employed, versus 65.5% of those without — a persistent hiring gap.

The EU gender employment gap was 10.0 percentage points in 2024 — men 80.8% employed vs women 70.8%.

Women make up 41.2% of the global workforce but hold only 28.8% of top leadership positions.

Companies in the top quartile for executive gender diversity were 39% more likely to financially outperform — the same 39% gap held for ethnic diversity.

The global gender gap is 68.8% closed in 2025 — but full parity is an estimated 123 years away at current rates.

The EU's unadjusted gender pay gap was 11.1% in 2024 (11.4% in the euro area), ranging from -0.8% in Luxembourg to 18.8% in Estonia.

US workers who say focusing on DEI at work is mainly a good thing fell to 52% in late 2024, down from 56% in February 2023.