Are job orders going up or down? And what does it take to fill them? Each month, Bullhorn tracks key indicators from our proprietary data to reveal changes in the global hiring landscape. Check in at the start of every month for the latest trends in permanent and temporary hiring.
Month ending September 30, 2026 Last updated October 6, 2026
Permanent job orders increase 3% in September
Temporary job orders are up about 2% this month, a bit below the 4% per month growth seen on average for the last six months. And the overall pipeline is only about 1% above where it was in September of last year. Fill rate held steady this month, a deceleration from the 8% average monthly increases seen most of the year. With submissions also creeping up, this may suggest a slight cooling in the temporary market, but overall pipeline and fill rate are still up year over year, so the market remains solid for now.
The permanent staffing market is looking good, with job orders up 3% this month, above the 2% monthly average seen in recent months. And submissions per job order are down, so recruiters aren’t having to work harder to fill orders. Submissions are a bit higher than they were this time last year, but have been declining for the past six months, suggesting an improving market. Fill rate did decline a bit this month, but with pipeline improving this is likely more due to recruiters trying to keep up with more job orders than a real reflection of employer hesitancy.
Temporary job orders increase 2% in September
Fill rate in temporary placements stalls slightly
Recruiter effort in permanent placements declines
Methodology
Hiring outlook metrics were calculated from Bullhorn ATS data for customers that have opted in to share aggregated data. Customers were qualified as professional or commercial if the majority of their placements were within these industries. Temporary/contingent placements are those with a set end date; permanent/direct hire placements are those without.
Jobs orders per recruiter is calculated as the volume of job order records created divided by the unique number of users within the calendar month.
Job fill rate is calculated as the proportion of job order records that were placed within 90 days of their open date. This is a trailing indicator that covers jobs created three calendar months prior to the period.
Submissions per job order is calculated as the volume of client submissions divided by the volume of job orders in the period. This metric represents records created in the previous calendar month.
