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 temporary hiring.
Month ending May 31, 2026 Last updated June 2, 2026
Temp job orders decline in May, but remain up year over year
Temporary job orders fell in May, down 4% this month, a second consecutive month of declines. However, temp job orders are still 3% above where they were in May of 2025 and continue to outpace permanent orders. Fill rates also declined for the first time this year, a potentially worrying sign. It may be that inflationary pressures and uncertainty around the war in the Middle East are causing clients to pull back a bit on the acceleration seen so far this year.
Permanent job orders saw an even sharper decline, down 7% in May and now down 4% compared to last year. But job fill rate and recruiter effort remained steady, so it seems there is a slowdown in pipeline, but clients are still eager to fill the roles they have open without unduly burdening recruiters. This data does suggest some waning confidence among employers, potentially stalling the momentum seen so far in 2026.
Perm job orders decline in May
Perm job fill rate up 11% year over year
Recruiter effort remains stable in May
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.
