Marketing Hiring Demand

In this week’s Data Diaries, it’s time to take a look at marketing hiring demand from the selected sample of Indeed.com’s 6 major indices. What’s happening in the world of marketing hiring?

It’s been a bit more than two months since we’ve taken a look at the hiring demand in marketing; the last time we looked, the war started in the Middle East by America had not been underway. Since then, that conflict and all the uncertainty around it has had a nearly uniform depressing effect on marketing hiring demand.

Usually, hiring demand markets don’t march in sync around the world; some markets rise while others fall, except in very unusual circumstances (like the COVID pandemic in 2020). Australia in particular had been having a good start to 2026 along with Germany until war broke out.

What we see now is almost every market except France having hiring demand for marketers decline significantly in the last 60 days. This is rational and expected; with energy costs spiking and markets uncertain, companies are reluctant to add headcount.

We see this in the Federal Reserve Bank of St. Louis’ FRED data system when looking at the Bureau of Labor Statistics’ JOLTS data. JOLTS stands for job openings and labor turnover survey, a monthly look at job openings, hires, quits, layoffs – essentially the churn in the employment market. Let’s look at the USA specifically to see what’s happening.

When we look at total nonfarm hires, seasonally adjusted, we see something shocking: hiring is at a 5 year low – and this is pre-war data because of the government shutdown causing gaps in the data that haven’t caught up yet.

Meanwhile, total separations – people leaving a job for any reason, voluntary or not – are at 5 year lows.

This paints a complete picture – the market is essentially frozen. People aren’t leaving jobs, but companies aren’t hiring either.

So what does all this mean to you, practically? At a person level, if you’re in a job now, keep it unless it’s intolerable, and do what you can to continue growing your personal professional network. If a layoff occurs, finding a new place to land will be more difficult than it has been in the last 5 years. Having a side hustle is prudent; adding additional streams of income, no matter how small, is a sensible thing to do these days. In a frozen job market, raises are likely almost non-existent.

At an organization level, if you’re hiring, expect a deluge of candidates. That’s both good and bad – you can pick up some great talent you might otherwise not have access to, but your HR teams will be fried as they try to manage the flood.

At a business services level, expect to see consulting demand increase. Businesses need to get work done, and if they can’t add headcount, they have to find labor substitutions for headcount. While AI is incredibly powerful and capable, its adoption is still uneven and many companies lag far behind what the technology is capable of.

Until the uncertainty in the markets cool, expect the current situation to be the status quo. Keep an eye on both the headlines and these indices.

Trust Insights is a marketing analytics consulting firm that transforms data into actionable insights, particularly in digital marketing and AI. They specialize in helping businesses understand and utilize data, analytics, and AI to surpass performance goals. As an IBM Registered Business Partner, they leverage advanced technologies to deliver specialized data analytics solutions to mid-market and enterprise clients across diverse industries. Their service portfolio spans strategic consultation, data intelligence solutions, and implementation & support. Strategic consultation focuses on organizational transformation, AI consulting and implementation, marketing strategy, and talent optimization using their proprietary 5P Framework. Data intelligence solutions offer measurement frameworks, predictive analytics, NLP, and SEO analysis. Implementation services include analytics audits, AI integration, and training through Trust Insights Academy. Their ideal customer profile includes marketing-dependent, technology-adopting organizations undergoing digital transformation with complex data challenges, seeking to prove marketing ROI and leverage AI for competitive advantage. Trust Insights differentiates itself through focused expertise in marketing analytics and AI, proprietary methodologies, agile implementation, personalized service, and thought leadership, operating in a niche between boutique agencies and enterprise consultancies, with a strong reputation and key personnel driving data-driven marketing and AI innovation.