HÜNT · Monthly hiring report
Who's hiring: January 2026 hiring report
We ranked 475 US employers by hiring pace in January 2026, from real job changes in résumé histories. Intuitive Surgical sped up the most, +13 pts in its hiring percentile in a month, while Verizon slowed the most, -18 pts. Over 12 months, Diamond Offshore gained the most: +73 pts.
Key takeaways
- Diamond Offshore rose +13 pts this month and gained +73 pts over 12 months, reaching the 92nd percentile.
- Verizon slowed -18 pts to the 25th percentile, while Energy accounts for 3 of 10 companies in the slowed list.
- Financials is the only sector with a median 12-month rise, at +3 pts, while Consumer Discretionary shows -5 pts.
- Software engineering remains the largest role family at 22.0% of hires, despite a -0.5 pts 12-month share change.
Sped up hiring in January 2026
Among 475 employers, 135 sped up this month. The 10 listed companies span 7 sectors, with Health Care, Industrials, and Real Estate each contributing 2 of 10; Intuitive Surgical and Diamond Offshore lead at +13 pts, while current percentiles range from 31st for Public Storage to 92nd for Diamond Offshore.
Change in hiring percentile from Dec 2025 to Jan 2026.
| # | Employer | Sector | Change, 1 mo | Hiring percentile |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| 1 | Intuitive Surgical | Health Care | +13 pts | 66th |
| 2 | Diamond Offshore | — | +13 pts | 92nd |
| 3 | General Dynamics | Industrials | +12 pts | 41st |
| 4 | Public Storage | Real Estate | +9 pts | 31st |
| 5 | Weyerhaeuser | Real Estate | +7 pts | 79th |
| 6 | Mattel | Consumer Discretionary | +6 pts | 42nd |
| 7 | Waters | Health Care | +6 pts | 51st |
| 8 | Teradyne | Information Technology | +6 pts | 80th |
| 9 | Transocean | Energy | +6 pts | 63rd |
| 10 | Thomson Reuters | Industrials | +5 pts | 58th |
Slowed hiring in January 2026
Among 475 employers, 222 slowed this month, exceeding the 135 that sped up. The 10 listed companies cover 6 sectors, with Energy and unclassified companies each accounting for 3 of 10; Verizon leads the decline at -18 pts, followed by Discover Financial at -16 pts.
| # | Employer | Sector | Change, 1 mo | Hiring percentile |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| 1 | Verizon | Communication Services | -18 pts | 25th |
| 2 | Discover Financial | — | -16 pts | 46th |
| 3 | ConocoPhillips | Energy | -15 pts | 73rd |
| 4 | TripAdvisor | Consumer Discretionary | -11 pts | 28th |
| 5 | Kinder Morgan | Energy | -10 pts | 50th |
| 6 | BMC Software | — | -9 pts | 28th |
| 7 | Harman International | — | -7 pts | 40th |
| 8 | Air Products | Materials | -7 pts | 33rd |
| 9 | Moderna | Health Care | -7 pts | 65th |
| 10 | Devon Energy | Energy | -7 pts | 44th |
Biggest gains over 12 months
The 10 largest 12-month gains span 6 sectors, led by Information Technology and Industrials at 3 of 10 each. Diamond Offshore leads at +73 pts, followed by Exelon at +69 pts; current percentiles range from 41st for Robinhood Markets and General Dynamics to 92nd for Diamond Offshore.
Change in hiring percentile from Jan 2025 to Jan 2026.
| # | Employer | Sector | Change, 12 mo | Hiring percentile |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| 1 | Diamond Offshore | — | +73 pts | 92nd |
| 2 | Exelon | Utilities | +69 pts | 91st |
| 3 | ConocoPhillips | Energy | +56 pts | 73rd |
| 4 | Fair Isaac | Information Technology | +41 pts | 82nd |
| 5 | Honeywell Aerospace | Industrials | +34 pts | 81st |
| 6 | Robinhood Markets | Financials | +32 pts | 41st |
| 7 | General Dynamics | Industrials | +29 pts | 41st |
| 8 | PTC | Information Technology | +27 pts | 58th |
| 9 | Keysight Technologies | Information Technology | +27 pts | 69th |
| 10 | Cintas | Industrials | +27 pts | 60th |
Biggest drops over 12 months
The 10 largest 12-month drops span 7 sectors, with Materials, unclassified, and Communication Services each contributing 2 of 10. Celanese leads the decline at -61 pts, followed by Air Products at -59 pts; current percentiles range from 10th for Paramount Skydance to 51st for Southwest Airlines.
| # | Employer | Sector | Change, 12 mo | Hiring percentile |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| 1 | Celanese | Materials | -61 pts | 21st |
| 2 | Air Products | Materials | -59 pts | 33rd |
| 3 | AES | Utilities | -53 pts | 17th |
| 4 | Fannie Mae | — | -49 pts | 22nd |
| 5 | Warner Bros. Discovery | Communication Services | -44 pts | 44th |
| 6 | Discover Financial | — | -41 pts | 46th |
| 7 | Southwest Airlines | Industrials | -41 pts | 51st |
| 8 | NXP Semiconductors | Information Technology | -39 pts | 41st |
| 9 | Paramount Skydance | Communication Services | -38 pts | 10th |
| 10 | Steris | Health Care | -33 pts | 37th |
By sector
Financials is the only sector with a median 12-month rise, at +3 pts, while 8 sectors have median declines. Real Estate has the highest median hiring percentile at 76th, and Consumer Discretionary has the lowest at 39th; sector employer counts range from 12 in Utilities to 70 in Industrials.
| Sector | Employers | Median percentile | Median change, 12 mo | Fastest hirer |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| Real Estate | 14 | 76th | -2 pts | Prologis (91st) |
| Financials | 60 | 58th | +3 pts | Ares Management (97th) |
| Utilities | 12 | 57th | -1 pt | Exelon (91st) |
| Materials | 17 | 55th | -4 pts | Smurfit Westrock (100th) |
| Information Technology | 66 | 54th | -2 pts | NVIDIA (99th) |
| Energy | 17 | 54th | -2 pts | Murphy Oil (95th) |
| Industrials | 70 | 52nd | unchanged | GE Vernova (99th) |
| Health Care | 55 | 49th | unchanged | Cencora (99th) |
| Consumer Staples | 29 | 49th | -3 pts | Kenvue (100th) |
| Communication Services | 22 | 40th | -4 pts | Trade Desk (89th) |
| Consumer Discretionary | 59 | 39th | -5 pts | Deckers Brands (87th) |
Sectors with at least 5 employers in the report.
By role
Software engineering is the largest listed role family at 22.0% of hires, followed by Operations & manufacturing at 9.8% and Sales at 7.1%. Shares rose for 4 role families, including Data & machine learning at +0.6 pts, while shares fell for 5, including Software engineering at -0.5 pts.
| Role family | Share of US hires | Change, 12 mo |
|---|---|---|
| Software Engineering | 22.0% | -0.5 pts |
| Operations & Manufacturing | 9.8% | -0.4 pts |
| Sales | 7.1% | +0.5 pts |
| Finance | 4.4% | unchanged |
| Executive Leadership | 4.3% | +0.2 pts |
| Consulting | 3.9% | -0.2 pts |
| Data & Machine Learning | 3.6% | +0.6 pts |
| HR & Recruiting | 3.2% | -0.2 pts |
| Marketing | 3.1% | +0.1 pts |
| Product Management | 2.0% | unchanged |
| Customer Support | 1.7% | -0.1 pts |
| Design | 1.6% | unchanged |
| Research | 1.2% | unchanged |
| Legal & Compliance | 1.0% | unchanged |
| Medical | 0.5% | unchanged |
Share of all hires observed at US panel employers, 36-month window ending January 2026.
Questions and answers
Which US companies sped up hiring the most in January 2026?
By change in hiring percentile over one month: Intuitive Surgical (+13 pts, now in the 66th percentile), Diamond Offshore (+13 pts, now in the 92nd percentile) and General Dynamics (+12 pts, now in the 41st percentile).
Which US companies slowed hiring the most in January 2026?
By change in hiring percentile over one month: Verizon (-18 pts, now in the 25th percentile), Discover Financial (-16 pts, now in the 46th percentile) and ConocoPhillips (-15 pts, now in the 73rd percentile).
Which companies gained the most hiring momentum over the 12 months to January 2026?
Diamond Offshore (+73 pts, now in the 92nd percentile), Exelon (+69 pts, now in the 91st percentile) and ConocoPhillips (+56 pts, now in the 73rd percentile), by change in hiring percentile since January 2025.
Which sector is hiring fastest in the US in January 2026?
Real Estate: its median employer is in the 76th hiring percentile, and the fastest hirer in the sector is Prologis. The slowest sector is Consumer Discretionary, with a median in the 39th percentile.
Which jobs account for the most US hires in January 2026?
The largest role families by share of hires at US panel employers are software engineering (22.0%), operations & manufacturing (9.8%), sales (7.1%). The biggest 12-month gain in share is in data & machine learning, +0.6 pts.
How is the hiring percentile calculated?
From job changes in public résumé histories over a rolling 36-month window, not from job postings. Each employer is ranked by hiring pace among all employers in the panel: 0 is the slowest, 100 the fastest. Only employers with enough observed job changes are ranked, and the data is updated monthly.
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Data: HÜNT Workforce Panel · résumé history · updated monthly · data through January 2026 · Methodology