Bullhorn Insights: US staffing hours fully recover post-Labor Day
Bullhorn Insights delivers the intelligence recruiters need to move faster and lead with confidence in an evolving market.
Your weekly staffing snapshot
US and commercial hours return to pre-holiday levels
U.S. staffing hours returned to levels seen in the five weeks leading up to Labor Day. Similarly, commercial hours rebounded back to the six-week pre-holiday values. These figures, along with the 3% year-over-year difference, suggest that hours are stabilizing (though still slightly below last year) and continue to follow normal seasonal patterns. Professional hours have not yet fully recovered, but this is also in line with prior years.
Recruitment by the numbers
Contract workers remain crucial in the tech space
After a dip in late 2024, permanent contracts in IT are gradually recovering, with job openings rising 6% from Q1 to Q2 2025. But the technology sector remains heavily dependent on temporary contract workers, whose job openings grew 27% over that same time period. With the ongoing economic uncertainty and fluctuating tech investments, employers continue to rely on the flexibility of short- and long-term IT contractors and are likely to maintain this approach in the foreseeable future.