US Labor Market Snapshot — May 2026

Summary

The Big Picture Overall hiring demand has essentially returned to where it stood in early 2020, with Indeed job postings roughly even with the immediate pre-pandemic baseline. That may sound ominous, but the pre-pandemic job market was generally strong and balanced. Job Postings Where we are: Indeed’s JPI stood just 0.4% above pre-pandemic levels (at 100.4) as of May 31, 2026. Line graph titled “Job postings return close to pre-pandemic levels” showing the indexed level of US job postings on Indeed, where 100 equals the February 1, 2020 baseline, through May 31, 2026. Wages Headline : Posted wage growth held at 2.4% year-over-year in May. Beneath the trend deceleration in overall posted wage growth, an interesting dynamic is emerging in “wage tiers.” Similar to the surge in posted pay for “low-wage” occupations as the economy reopened from the pandemic, low-wage jobs are once again seeing faster growth in posted wages (2.7%) than their higher-paying peers. Line graph titled “Low-wage occupations lead annual posted wage growth again” showing a 3-month moving average of year-over-year growth in the Indeed Wage Tracker by low, middle, and high-wage occupation groupings. Traditionally lower-paying jobs saw the largest wage bumps in the immediate reopening from the pandemic and are once again outpacing higher-paying job groups. Meanwhile, the vacancy-to-unemployment ratio improved to 1.0 in April, indicating one available job vacancy for every unemployed worker. Low layoffs remain a bright spot in the labor market, keeping net hiring positive .