A Healthy Job Market But a Hiring System That’s Sick
On the outside, the job market looks stronger and healthier than it has in months but on the inside that’s not how it feels. Jobs are being created, openings are up, unemployment is steady but the hiring system still isn’t right.
What the Latest Numbers Show
The U.S. economy added 172,000 jobs in May, marking the third consecutive month of positive payroll growth. The unemployment rate held steady at 4.3%, and ADP reported that private employers added another 122,000 jobs during the month. So by the headline numbers, the labor market is still creating jobs and holding steady.
But JOLTS tells a more complicated story.
Job openings jumped to 7.6 million in April, the highest level in nearly two years, with the largest increase coming from professional and business services. That sector alone accounted for roughly 668,000 of the increase in openings. At the same time, actual hires fell to 5.1 million, and the hiring rate slipped to 3.2%. Quits also remained low at 3.0 million, with the quits rate holding at 1.9%.
So the market is not weak, but it’s not moving normally either.
More jobs are being posted, but fewer people are being hired because companies are simply not hiring for volume. Instead, they are focused on hiring specialized talent for very specific and immediate business problems, especially around technology, data, cybersecurity, efficiency, financial controls and business growth which is why most of the of the surge in jobs came from professional and business services.
Companies need to hire people to help them solve problems that don’t have an obvious solution and those types of candidates are not easy to find.
As we reported last month, companies are overcomplicating their searches by trying to hire for jobs that are still being invented. They want proven talent with very specific skills for roles that don’t fully exist yet, to handle tasks that have never been done before — and then wonder why the market feels thin when it’s not.
The job description is too thick.
What they actually want is someone smart enough to walk into an ambiguity and figure it out. And that’s not a skills problem. That’s an intelligence problem and companies can’t AI their way out of it.
When Everything is a Priority, Nothing Gets Done
And that’s a hard reality for leaders to face. In one ear they are hearing, “Use AI to scale everything! You will get more speed, more productivity, more reach!” And in the other they are being told, “People are tired of AI. Be more human, more authentic, more real.” Meanwhile, the platforms they rely on for data have been quietly reconfiguring filters, so leaders can stare at dashboards that look more official than they actually are because the numbers don’t mean the same thing as before. There are simply too many variables putting pressure on leaders right now, with moving targets that are all changing too fast for anyone to fully control. Between the constant contradictions and data that can’t be compared, many companies are caught in the corporate version of the spinning wheel of death. Too many tabs are open with too many commands running the system at once and nobody knows which force quit should come first.
Use AI, but not too much.
Sound human, but optimize for SEO.
Write original content, but optimize for AEO.
Work faster, but be more creative.
Feed the algorithm, but only what it wants.
Automate the process, but personalize the experience.
And always, always, always, trust the data, even though there’s no constant by which to measure it by aside from variables that are constantly changing.
At some point, there are so many competing priorities that the system just stops responding.
That’s why openings are up. Hiring is down. And quit rates are historically low.
Companies know they need to hire but they’re not sure who and for what. They know they need stronger systems, sharper leadership, better use of AI, cleaner data, stronger sales, tighter operations and more effective teams. So they are opening roles, but they are not hiring quickly, because the problems they need to solve are harder to define than they used to be. Hiring today is not about looking for simple replacement hires. It’s about finding genuinely intelligent people who think in a way others can’t. That’s why the more companies lean on AI to find and evaluate talent, the harder it’s becoming to identify the one thing they actually need.
And that is why the labor market is stuck.
Employer expectations are higher than ever, but so is the bar to move the talent they want.
Passive Candidates are More Passive Than Ever
Top talent doesn’t apply. If you’ve spent 5 seconds on LinkedIn, you’ve surely heard that by now, but as hollow as that phrase has become, it’s still true. The high-value employees companies want to hire most are also the people hardest to reach and the least likely to move without a very good reason. Even though they aren’t married to their jobs, they’re still technically “off-the-market,” which means the best candidates are not spending time optimizing their profiles, engaging with recruiters, or even opening Inmail messages on LinkedIn.
In fact, there’s a deliberate opt-out movement occurring, in which high-quality talent is going dark, deactivating their professional accounts or intentionally hiding their profiles. They’re tired of being inundated with AI-automated junk mail, as their inboxes are filled with poorly targeted content and spam. And who can blame them? Passive candidates can afford to make themselves disappear. Active job seekers do not have that luxury — they need to be found.
It’s easy to forget that top-performing candidates are almost always employed. In fact, having a good job is one of top talent’s most definitive features. They are highly valued, comfortable in their current roles, and even the dissatisfied ones aren’t willing to leave without a very good reason — especially right now.
Passive candidates have always been hard to move. But right now they’re harder to move than ever — which means if you’re serious about landing this kind of talent, you have to be equally serious about the approach. We get into exactly what that looks like here. [link]
Companies Are Hiring Bosses Again
The real challenge with passive candidates for employers is that they are not being difficult. They are being rational. The very thing that makes them hard to move is also what proves they are the kind of person companies want. They aren’t desperate. And they’re not playing hard to get. They are hard to move because they have judgment. They can read risk. They understand leverage. They know their value and refuse to move unless the opportunity is good enough for them.
That is what makes this dynamic so interesting for employers.
The same judgment that makes these candidates harder to move is also what makes them more attractive. They are already thinking like the person companies want to hire. They can assess risk, weigh tradeoffs, spot weak logic and make a decision without needing someone else to explain the whole picture.
And right now, that is exactly what companies need.
They need people who can walk into a department and see what is actually happening. Not just what the dashboard says. Not just what the org chart says. What is really happening. Where the work is getting stuck. Where the team is overcomplicating the problem. Where the process is broken. Where people are waiting for someone else to make the call.
That is why companies are hiring bosses again.
Not the boss who manages by ego. Not the boss who controls every detail because they do not trust anyone else. The boss companies need now is the person who can take responsibility when everyone else is overwhelmed. The person who can simplify the work, set the standard, make the decision and get people moving again. It’s a return to the true nature of leadership and not a moment too soon. Read more about what that means for executive hiring here. [link]
Industry Insights: June 2026 Hiring Trends
Administrative & Office Support
Administrative talent remains in high demand, but the theme of selectiveness continues. Businesses are prioritizing administrative candidates with both administrative expertise and technology proficiency. Administrative and office support candidates with in-depth AI knowledge are the most hirable in this sector right now.
The financial activities sector reports a decline of 22,000 jobs in May, with most of the losses in commercial banking and insurance carriers. That said, the industry continues to maintain a low unemployment rate, and firms are aggressively hiring specialized talent. According to a recent report, nearly 75% of firms plan to increase their headcount this year, with a special focus on business and financial analysts, accounts payable and receivable specialists, bookkeepers, and senior accountants.
The construction industry is on a roll. It added 17,000 jobs in May, maintaining its three-month streak. The Reindustrialize Summit is gathering this month to discuss the nation’s current industrial, manufacturing, and technological bases, which directly impact the construction sector. The conference will bring together industry leaders to address investment plans for defense, manufacturing, green energy, and AI infrastructure, as well as the growing need for construction workers to support these projects. As long as reindustrialization remains a priority, we can expect more demand and higher pay for the skilled trades.
The industrial and manufacturing sector saw a slight lull in April, adding only 2,000 jobs, but it bounced back in May, adding 7,000 jobs. As we see in the construction industry, demand for skilled workers remains. With the upcoming Reindustrialize Summit, discussions will likely emphasize the growing need for skilled trades to support domestic reshoring initiatives.
Selective hiring has hit the sales sector, too. While hiring continues, companies are struggling to find the caliber of talent they need to enhance their sales operations. Businesses want experienced, revenue-driving hires who will add value to their organizations. This industry is maintaining its lean hiring approach, but it is willing to experiment with temp and contractor workers.
Coming off a year of record-high employment rates, the legal sector’s unemployment rates remain low. Surprisingly, the jobs keep coming though. In May, the total number of jobs in this industry reached 1,237,000, including lawyer, judge, paralegal, and legal assistant roles. As we’re seeing in other industries, the legal sector is becoming increasingly focused on specialized talent, particularly those with expertise in AI and tech governance.
In the technology sector, precision hiring is the name of the game. Companies want talent with expertise in AI, cybersecurity, and data engineering. AI integration and automation engineers, data scientists, cybersecurity analysts, and software developers are among the most coveted roles right now, as businesses need help navigating the latest advancements. According to one report, the tech workforce is projected to grow twice as fast as the overall U.S. workforce over the next 10 years, adding roughly 323,000 workers each year.
The wealth management sector is actively hiring with a special focus on talent who can drive growth, generate revenue, and strengthen client-facing relationships. Firms are searching for experienced client-facing advisors, portfolio managers, financial planners, and compliance specialists. There are open positions; it’s just a matter of finding qualified talent with the appropriate skills and experience to fill them.
What This Means for Employers
Just because quality candidates aren’t updating their profiles or applying to your job descriptions doesn’t mean they don’t exist. The talent is out there. You just need to know where to find it.
But finding them requires knowing what you’re actually looking for — and right now, the most important quality a candidate can have isn’t a specific skill set or a particular pedigree. It’s intelligence. Not artificial intelligence. Organizational intelligence. The kind of fluid, adaptive thinking that allows someone to walk into a broken system, understand what’s actually happening, and know what to do next.
That’s the hire that gets companies out of the spin cycle. Not more process. Not better dashboards. Not another tool. A person who can think clearly when everything else can’t.
That’s also the hardest hire to make on your own because AI has the ability to make average thinkers appear more capable than they actually are.
Identifying genuine intelligence requires a professional who knows what it looks like and how to recognize the people who have it. Our team knows the right questions to ask, what to look for, and how to find systems-level thinkers. We personally source from the full market of available talent to find genuinely talented people, build real relationships with them, and introduce them to opportunities worth leaving for.
Connect with our team to discuss how we’re helping companies land high-caliber leaders today.