If the economic theme of 2025 was uncertainty, the theme for 2026 is shaping up to be stagnation.
According to the new Indeed 2026 Jobs & Hiring Trends Report, the US labor market has settled into a deep freeze. We’re currently living in a “low-hire, low-fire” environment: Many employers are too nervous to expand their headcounts, yet not distressed enough to initiate mass layoffs.
A comparison of the latest job posting data from October 2025 with that from a year earlier indicates the cooling effect is not limited to a specific field — it’s virtually everywhere. From childcare job postings, down 13.8%, to IT Infrastructure, down 13%, the vast majority of industries have fewer job offerings now than they did a year ago.
Sectors that were previously resilient, like retail and hospitality, are showing signs of fatigue, Indeed found. The Trump Administration’s cuts contributed to a massive 22.2% decline in postings for scientific research and development. And the AI boom is ostensibly playing a role in the 3.5% decrease in software development postings. Even nursing is down 6%.
Amidst this sea of decline, a few surprising outliers have bucked the trend. Here are the four sectors that actually saw gains on Indeed: