HÜNT · Monthly hiring report
Who's hiring: April 2026 hiring report
We ranked 475 US employers by hiring pace in April 2026, from real job changes in résumé histories. Salesforce sped up the most, +12 pts in its hiring percentile in a month, while Leggett & Platt slowed the most, -9 pts. Over 12 months, Diamond Offshore gained the most: +63 pts.
Key takeaways
- Salesforce led April’s listed accelerations, rising +12 pts to the 63rd percentile among 475 employers.
- Consumer Discretionary accounted for 5 of 10 listed slowdowns, including Leggett & Platt at -9 pts.
- Financials supplied 4 of 10 largest 12-month gains, led by Coinbase at +60 pts.
- Air Products recorded the largest 12-month decline, falling -66 pts to the 21st percentile.
- Data & machine learning increased its hiring share +0.7 pts, while Software engineering remained the largest role family at 22.2%.
Sped up hiring in April 2026
Among the 10 listed employers that sped up, Salesforce led with +12 pts, followed by Nordson and U.S. Steel at +11 pts. The moves covered 6 sectors: Information Technology and Industrials each supplied 3 of 10, while 4 other sectors supplied 1 of 10 each. Take-Two Interactive had the highest current percentile in this list at 84th.
Change in hiring percentile from Mar 2026 to Apr 2026.
| # | Employer | Sector | Change, 1 mo | Hiring percentile |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| 1 | Salesforce | Information Technology | +12 pts | 63rd |
| 2 | Nordson | Industrials | +11 pts | 40th |
| 3 | U.S. Steel | — | +11 pts | 51st |
| 4 | GoDaddy | Information Technology | +10 pts | 56th |
| 5 | ITT | Industrials | +7 pts | 74th |
| 6 | Equifax | Industrials | +6 pts | 45th |
| 7 | FactSet | Financials | +6 pts | 56th |
| 8 | Take-Two Interactive | Communication Services | +6 pts | 84th |
| 9 | Ball | Materials | +6 pts | 61st |
| 10 | Micron Technology | Information Technology | +5 pts | 83rd |
Slowed hiring in April 2026
Among the 10 listed employers that slowed, Leggett & Platt led the decline at -9 pts, followed by Norwegian Cruise Line at -8 pts. The list covered 5 sectors, with Consumer Discretionary accounting for 5 of 10 and Health Care for 2 of 10; Real Estate, Communication Services and Energy each supplied 1 of 10. Viatris had the lowest current percentile at 29th.
| # | Employer | Sector | Change, 1 mo | Hiring percentile |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| 1 | Leggett & Platt | Consumer Discretionary | -9 pts | 61st |
| 2 | Norwegian Cruise Line | Consumer Discretionary | -8 pts | 52nd |
| 3 | AutoNation | Consumer Discretionary | -7 pts | 44th |
| 4 | AvalonBay Communities | Real Estate | -7 pts | 71st |
| 5 | MGM Resorts | Consumer Discretionary | -7 pts | 61st |
| 6 | Upwork | Communication Services | -6 pts | 46th |
| 7 | Viatris | Health Care | -6 pts | 29th |
| 8 | Moderna | Health Care | -6 pts | 44th |
| 9 | Carnival | Consumer Discretionary | -6 pts | 55th |
| 10 | Williams Companies | Energy | -6 pts | 60th |
Biggest gains over 12 months
The 10 largest 12-month gains covered 6 sectors, with Financials supplying 4 of 10 and unclassified employers 2 of 10. Diamond Offshore led at +63 pts, followed by Coinbase at +60 pts; Waters had the highest current percentile at 98th. Financials and Information Technology were the 2 sectors with median hiring rises over 12 months.
Change in hiring percentile from Apr 2025 to Apr 2026.
| # | Employer | Sector | Change, 12 mo | Hiring percentile |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| 1 | Diamond Offshore | — | +63 pts | 96th |
| 2 | Coinbase | Financials | +60 pts | 90th |
| 3 | Waters | Health Care | +46 pts | 98th |
| 4 | Robinhood Markets | Financials | +42 pts | 49th |
| 5 | GoDaddy | Information Technology | +34 pts | 56th |
| 6 | U.S. Steel | — | +34 pts | 51st |
| 7 | eBay | Consumer Discretionary | +32 pts | 72nd |
| 8 | Hartford | Financials | +32 pts | 73rd |
| 9 | Honeywell Aerospace | Industrials | +31 pts | 95th |
| 10 | Assurant | Financials | +28 pts | 70th |
Biggest drops over 12 months
The 10 largest 12-month drops covered 6 sectors, with Materials, unclassified, Industrials and Information Technology each supplying 2 of 10. Air Products led the decline at -66 pts, followed by Discover Financial at -64 pts; Air Products also had the lowest current percentile at 21st. Median hiring fell in 9 sectors over 12 months.
| # | Employer | Sector | Change, 12 mo | Hiring percentile |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| 1 | Air Products | Materials | -66 pts | 21st |
| 2 | Discover Financial | — | -64 pts | 26th |
| 3 | Celanese | Materials | -55 pts | 23rd |
| 4 | CSX | Industrials | -51 pts | 32nd |
| 5 | Moderna | Health Care | -46 pts | 44th |
| 6 | Southwest Airlines | Industrials | -46 pts | 41st |
| 7 | Fannie Mae | — | -41 pts | 24th |
| 8 | NXP Semiconductors | Information Technology | -37 pts | 34th |
| 9 | CoStar | Real Estate | -35 pts | 39th |
| 10 | First Solar | Information Technology | -34 pts | 43rd |
By sector
Real Estate had the highest sector median hiring percentile at 75th, while Communication Services had the lowest at 40th. Financials recorded a +2 pts median 12-month change and Information Technology +1 pt; the other 9 sectors had median declines, including Materials at -8 pts and Energy at -7 pts. Sector employer counts ranged from 12 in Utilities to 70 in Industrials.
| Sector | Employers | Median percentile | Median change, 12 mo | Fastest hirer |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| Real Estate | 14 | 75th | -2 pts | Digital Realty (89th) |
| Energy | 17 | 59th | -7 pts | Murphy Oil (95th) |
| Financials | 60 | 58th | +2 pts | Arthur J. Gallagher (97th) |
| Materials | 17 | 56th | -8 pts | Smurfit Westrock (100th) |
| Information Technology | 66 | 55th | +1 pt | NVIDIA (99th) |
| Utilities | 12 | 53rd | -1 pt | Exelon (91st) |
| Industrials | 70 | 52nd | -1 pt | GE Vernova (98th) |
| Consumer Staples | 29 | 49th | -4 pts | Kenvue (99th) |
| Health Care | 55 | 46th | -1 pt | Cencora (99th) |
| Consumer Discretionary | 59 | 42nd | -3 pts | H&R Block (89th) |
| Communication Services | 22 | 40th | -1 pt | Fox (87th) |
Sectors with at least 5 employers in the report.
By role
Software engineering remained the largest listed role family at 22.2% of hires, followed by Operations & manufacturing at 9.7% and Sales at 7.2%. The 4 role families with rising shares were Sales, Executive leadership, Data & machine learning and Marketing; Data & machine learning had the largest increase at +0.7 pts. The 7 role families with falling shares included Software engineering, Operations & manufacturing and Finance.
| Role family | Share of US hires | Change, 12 mo |
|---|---|---|
| Software Engineering | 22.2% | -0.3 pts |
| Operations & Manufacturing | 9.7% | -0.4 pts |
| Sales | 7.2% | +0.5 pts |
| Finance | 4.4% | -0.1 pts |
| Executive Leadership | 4.2% | +0.2 pts |
| Consulting | 3.9% | -0.2 pts |
| Data & Machine Learning | 3.8% | +0.7 pts |
| HR & Recruiting | 3.2% | -0.1 pts |
| Marketing | 3.1% | +0.1 pts |
| Product Management | 2.0% | unchanged |
| Customer Support | 1.7% | -0.1 pts |
| Design | 1.6% | -0.1 pts |
| 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 April 2026.
Questions and answers
Which US companies sped up hiring the most in April 2026?
By change in hiring percentile over one month: Salesforce (+12 pts, now in the 63rd percentile), Nordson (+11 pts, now in the 40th percentile) and U.S. Steel (+11 pts, now in the 51st percentile).
Which US companies slowed hiring the most in April 2026?
By change in hiring percentile over one month: Leggett & Platt (-9 pts, now in the 61st percentile), Norwegian Cruise Line (-8 pts, now in the 52nd percentile) and AutoNation (-7 pts, now in the 44th percentile).
Which companies gained the most hiring momentum over the 12 months to April 2026?
Diamond Offshore (+63 pts, now in the 96th percentile), Coinbase (+60 pts, now in the 90th percentile) and Waters (+46 pts, now in the 98th percentile), by change in hiring percentile since April 2025.
Which sector is hiring fastest in the US in April 2026?
Real Estate: its median employer is in the 75th hiring percentile, and the fastest hirer in the sector is Digital Realty. The slowest sector is Communication Services, with a median in the 40th percentile.
Which jobs account for the most US hires in April 2026?
The largest role families by share of hires at US panel employers are software engineering (22.2%), operations & manufacturing (9.7%), sales (7.2%). The biggest 12-month gain in share is in data & machine learning, +0.7 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 April 2026 · Methodology