US Labor Market Quarterly Verticals for Q2 2026

Using the latest Indeed data, these short research briefs track employment trends in five industry verticals over the second quarter of 2026.

Download our latest labor market reports covering the US Transportation, Retail, Business-to-Business (B2B), Tech, and Healthcare sectors. You can also find our most recent labor market chartbooks and other presentations here.

The Transportation vertical is showing some signs of life despite a decline in Driving job postings. Loading & Stocking job postings are up over the year, Driving wage growth is outpacing the labor market average, and Transportation quits are picking up speed.

The Retail vertical continued to mirror the rest of the labor market in the second quarter of 2026 in terms of job postings, but other trends are diverging. Job postings in most categories are down over the year, while Retail wage growth is picking up and the quits rate has risen in the Retail Trade and Leisure & Hospitality industries.

Trends in the Business-to-Business (B2B) vertical show some areas of promise in an otherwise lackluster labor market. Banking & Finance, Production & Manufacturing, and Insurance postings are all up year-over-year, while Accounting and Construction wage growth is outpacing that of the labor market.

The Tech labor market update brings both some expected and some surprising news. Software Development job postings notched a sizable gain amid increasing uncertainty around the AI rollout. Less surprisingly, the quits rates in tech-related industries are quite low as workers hold on to the jobs they have in hand.

After outperforming the rest of the labor market for the past few years, Healthcare is beginning to fall in line. Job postings in most categories declined over the past year, wage growth in Nursing has slowed consistently, and workers are holding on tighter to their roles as the quits rate continues to ease.