91 Jobs Statistics for 2026

Jobs are the clearest signal of economic health. Where they’re growing, money moves and invoices get paid; where they’re disappearing, financial distress and unpaid debt aren’t far behind.

The Kaplan Group pulled together more than 90 statistics across the industries we know best, debt collection, staffing, marketing, SaaS, software, manufacturing, financial services, and distribution, to map where the labor market stands in 2026. Below is the data that matters for cash flow, receivables, and collections risk, with what each trend signals about financial distress in the sectors we serve.

What Does the U.S. Job Market Look Like in 2026? 

The national labor market is still adding jobs, but slower hiring and softer openings in some sectors point to rising pockets of cash‑flow stress and collection risk.

1. U.S. nonfarm payrolls rose by 172,000 in May 2026, with the unemployment rate holding at 4.3%. March and April were later revised up to +214,000 and +179,000, respectively.
2. Total employment reached a historic 171.2 million by September 2025.
3. As of April 2026, there were 7.6 million job openings across the U.S. economy.
4. Hiring activity has slowed. The hires rate was around 3.1–3.2% in early 2026, near its lowest since 2020.
5. U.S. hiring rose 7.8% in May 2026 after a drop in April, though year-over-year hiring was still 4.8% lower than May 2025.
6. Total employment is projected to grow by 5.2 million from 2024 to 2034, driven mainly by healthcare and social assistance.

How Is the Debt Collection Job Market Holding Up? 

Debt collection is under structural pressure. Headcount is shrinking and workloads per collector are rising, amplifying operational strain on agencies.

7. The U.S. debt collection market was valued at $13.6 billion in 2025, with IBISWorld projecting growth to roughly $16.1 billion in 2026 (up about 6.1%).
8. There are approximately 5,467 debt collection firms operating in the U.S. as of 2025, following a 3.5% average annual decline since 2020.
9. The U.S. bill-and-account-collector workforce has shrunk by about one-third since 2019, a loss of more than 77,000 jobs by 2025, with the steepest single-year drop in 2024 as AI adoption accelerated.
10. Even as the workforce contracted, median collector pay rose roughly 27%, from $37,000 in 2019 to $47,030 in 2025.
11. The collector-to-distress ratio, collectors available per 1,000 bankruptcy filings, fell from 523 in 2022 to roughly 277 in 2025, a 47% deterioration, leaving each collector responsible for far more distressed accounts. 
12. Business support services employ the largest share of bill and account collectors at 25%, followed by credit intermediation (19%) and healthcare (11%).
13. Employment of bill and account collectors is projected to decline 10% from 2024 to 2034, a loss of roughly 17,500 jobs.
14. Despite declining employment, 13,700 annual openings for collectors are still projected each year, driven largely by the need to replace workers who leave the occupation rather than by new job creation.
15. The U.S. debt collection industry saw revenue decline at a 6.3% CAGR from 2020–2025, largely due to pandemic-era stimulus measures and suspended student loan payments.
16. After a multi-year contraction, IBISWorld projects industry revenue will return to growth, rising about 6.1% to $16.1 billion in 2026 — a clear signal of recovery.
17. 65% of U.S. debt collectors are women, with average annual wages of approximately $42,500 in 2023.
18. Research from the Consumer Financial Protection Bureau (CFPB) shows that large debt collection agencies (more than 250 employees) can experience annual turnover rates as high as 75–100%.
19. In the broader contact center sector, average attrition rates hover around 30–40%, but collections agencies often see higher.
20. About 60% of collectors have fewer than two years of experience, meaning managers are nearly always leading majority-junior teams.
21. About 77 million Americans currently have debt in collections, with an average balance of $5,178.

How Healthy Is the Staffing and Recruitment Industry? 

Staffing agencies are seeing modest revenue recovery and high volumes of temp placements, yet talent shortages and margin pressure leave them financially exposed when clients delay payment.

22. The U.S. staffing and recruiting market generated $178.7 billion in 2025 and is forecasted to grow 2.1% in 2026.
23. The Office Staffing & Temp Agencies industry in the U.S. is valued at $237.1 billion in 2026, rebounding with 6.5% projected revenue growth.
24. There are 22,370 employment and recruiting agencies operating in the U.S. as of 2026, an increase of 2.4% from 2025.
25. The staffing industry provided job and career opportunities for approximately 11 million employees in 2024.
26. U.S. staffing companies employed an average of 2 million temporary and contract workers per week in Q4 2025.
27. Staffing employment was 4.2% higher in mid-December 2025 compared with the same week in 2024, signaling year-over-year recovery in the weekly index.
28. After a prolonged downturn, the ASA Staffing Index reached a rounded value of 93 in November 2025, with staffing jobs 4.7% higher than the same week in 2024.
29. Staffing sales totaled $28.1 billion in Q3 2025, down 8.5% year-over-year, reflecting margin pressure even as employment edged up.
30. Most staffing employees (73%) work full time, comparable to the overall workforce (75%).
31. 42% of staffing agencies lost revenue in 2025, yet 69% expect to grow in 2026.
32. About 73% of staffing agencies globally cite talent shortages as their top growth challenge.
33. Around 85% of recruiters now use AI or automation tools in their workflows.
34. Looking ahead to 2026, staffing firms expect growth in life sciences (+5%), marketing/creative (+1%), IT (+1%), engineering (+3%), and finance/accounting (+2%).
35. 60% of job seekers abandon applications when hiring processes take too long, a key driver of staffing agencies’ push to streamline candidate pipelines.
36. Staffing-talent jobs fell 29% in Administrative & Support Services, 24% in Manufacturing, and 22% in Transportation & Logistics between July 2022 and July 2025, the sectors squeezing traditional staffing models hardest.
37. Staffing demand is shifting rather than disappearing, as staffing-talent jobs rose 314% in Utilities, 260% in Accommodation & Food Services, 182% in Hospitals & Health Care, and 145% in Construction over the same period. 

What’s Happening With Marketing and Advertising Jobs? 

Marketing jobs are shifting up‑market toward senior, analytical roles as agencies automate execution, creating uneven hiring and increasing collections risk for firms caught in business‑model transitions.

38. There are approximately 41,250 marketing agencies operating in the United States, up from 38,500 in 2020, a 7% expansion.
39. Marketing agency employment reached approximately 282,000 jobs as of recent reporting.
40. The U.S. Advertising Agencies industry is expected to reach $88.7 billion in 2026, up about 1.8% — a roughly 4.7% five-year CAGR.
41. Total active U.S. in-house marketing job listings reached 84,434 in Q1 2026, up 10.7% quarter-over-quarter, with new job postings up 16%.
42. Overall employment of advertising, promotions, and marketing managers is projected to grow 6% from 2024 to 2034, faster than average.
43. The median annual wage for marketing managers was $161,030 in May 2024; advertising managers earned $126,960.
44. About 36,400 openings for advertising, promotions, and marketing managers are projected each year through 2034.
45. Marketing roles had the highest turnover rate of any job function at 17%, versus a global turnover rate of just 11%.
46. The marketing specialist role specifically had a turnover rate of 19.8%.
47. Average marketing agency turnover declined from 20% in 2023 to 18% in 2024, potentially signaling a cooling job market.
48. After an average 8% headcount reduction across agencies in 2025, Forrester forecasts a further 15% reduction in agency jobs in 2026, driven by AI, automation, and business model shifts.
49. Forrester’s breakdown of 2026 marketing agency job losses: 28% clerical/admin, 22% sales and business development, 18% market research roles.
50. 57% of marketing agencies have slowed or paused entry-level hiring as AI absorbs junior execution work, even as 75% hire for AI-focused roles and 91% of agency leaders expect AI to reduce headcount.
51. Senior-level marketing job postings rose 7.8% in 2024, outpacing the 3.7% growth in overall marketing listings, as demand shifts toward experienced, analytically capable workers.

What Do the SaaS Employment Numbers Show? 

SaaS employment remains growth‑oriented but volatile, with high ARR per employee and periodic layoffs that turn contract disputes and churn into predictable streams of overdue receivables.

52. Worldwide SaaS revenue is expected to grow at a 19.38% annual rate from 2025–2029, reaching a market volume of $793.10 billion by 2029.
53. The median ARR per employee for private SaaS firms in 2024 was $125,000.
54. Enterprise SaaS companies with more than $20 million ARR have the highest median ARR per employee at $186,661.
55. Demand for SaaS professionals has risen 19% year-on-year, driven by global product expansion and AI-powered business transformation.
56. The broader tech sector saw roughly 152,900 layoffs across about 551 companies in 2024, underscoring the volatility that creates cash flow strain and payment delays.
57. The average annual churn rate for SaaS companies is 5–7%, reflecting both product and workforce instability.

Is the Software Development Job Market Recovering? 

Developer hiring is rebounding in AI‑heavy roles even as entry‑level postings lag, leaving some shops understaffed and more likely to stretch payables or dispute invoices when projects slip. 

58. Software developer job postings are up 15% since mid-2025, following a period where postings were roughly 40% below 2023 levels.
59. The number of working software developers in the U.S. increased between April 2025 and April 2026, defying predictions of collapse.
60. Software job openings increased 14% year-over-year as of early 2026.
61. The BLS still projects 15% growth for software developer jobs from 2024 to 2034, down from higher projections in the pre-AI era.
62. AI/ML engineering job postings are up 85% year-over-year, while traditional software engineering roles remain flat or declining.
63. Entry-level software engineering postings have dropped 28% from 2022 peaks and have not recovered.
64. Tech unemployment peaked at 5.7% in February 2025 before recovering — the highest for the sector in years.

How Is Manufacturing Employment Trending? 

Manufacturing employment is flat to declining despite strong output readings, a mismatch that often surfaces as unpaid equipment leases, stretched supplier terms, and higher B2B collection volume.

65. There were over 12.6 million manufacturing workers as of May 2026.
66. There were 474,000 manufacturing job openings in April 2026, up from 450,000 in March.
67. Manufacturing lost more than 90,000 jobs over the year, the third consecutive year of employment decline.
68. The ISM Manufacturing Employment Index registered 46.4% in April 2026 and improved to 48.6% in May — still in contraction — even as the overall ISM Manufacturing PMI rose to 54 in May, its strongest reading since May 2022, signaling the sector itself was expanding.
69. National manufacturing shed roughly 93,000 jobs between March 2025 and February 2026, per BLS data.
70. Despite short-term declines, 3.8 million manufacturing jobs will need to be staffed over the next decade due to industry growth and baby boomer retirements.

What’s the Outlook for Financial Services Jobs? 

Finance and insurance employers are expanding more cautiously, but high‑wage jobs and a growing global market mean that when credit quality deteriorates, the downstream collections pipeline is substantial.

71. As of February 2026, approximately 6.68 million Americans are employed in the finance and insurance sector.
72. There are currently over 374,000 job openings available in the finance industry.
73. Business and financial occupations are projected to generate approximately 942,500 openings per year through 2034, due to growth and replacement needs.
74. The median annual wage for business and financial occupations was $80,920 in May 2024, well above the $49,500 all-occupation median.
75. The financial sector added a net 39,000 jobs in Q1 2025, the strongest quarterly increase since 2022.
76. Financial sector job cuts totaled 15,982 in 2025, down 44% year-over-year, suggesting stabilization.
77. Job openings in finance and insurance decreased by 135,000 in April 2026, reflecting cautious near-term hiring.
78. The global financial services market is projected to reach roughly $47.6 trillion by 2029, growing at a CAGR of 7.1%.

How Are Distribution and Wholesale Jobs Shifting? 

Wholesale and distribution employment is sliding in goods‑heavy sectors, heightening collections risk as distributors juggle soft demand, rising costs, and longer‑dated receivables.

79. The U.S. wholesale trade sector employed approximately 6.05 million workers in February 2026, compared with 6.08 million a year earlier, a year-over-year decline of about 30,000 jobs.
80. Wholesale trade shed 13,900 jobs in March 2026, one of the sharper pullbacks among major industries.
81. Since May 2025, the wholesale sector has lost 32,000 positions as distributors contend with softer demand, tariff-related cost pressures, and sluggish goods-producing activity.
82. Between December 2024 and April 2025, over 320,000 unique job openings were posted across the warehouse and light industrial sectors.
83. The national median advertised hourly wage for warehouse and logistics roles was $19.05, a figure holding steady despite increasing employer urgency.
84. 77% of warehouse and logistics roles required no prior experience, and only 3% sought college degrees, reflecting a shift toward skill-based hiring.

How Does Employment Connect to Debt and Collections? 

The link between employment trends and collections demand is direct: when jobs are lost, invoices go unpaid. When hiring surges, so do staffing industry receivables. Understanding where jobs are growing or contracting is a leading indicator of collections volume.

85. U.S. credit card delinquencies hit 3.2% in Q4 2023, driving a 20% increase in collection placements.
86. 68% of U.S. consumers experienced debt collection contact in the past 12 months in a 2023 survey.
87. FDCPA violations in 2023 led to $78 million in settlements — among the highest levels on record, with the most common offense being fake caller ID practices.
88. Global household debt reached $59 trillion in 2023, with an estimated 15% in the collections pipeline.
89. 43% of all U.S. B2B invoiced sales are currently overdue, leaving small businesses that carry unpaid invoices owed more than $17,500 on average.
90. U.S. business bankruptcy filings reached 24,737 in 2025, 8.6% above pre-pandemic levels and 83.5% above the 2022 low of 13,481.
91. Debt collectors recover just about 20 cents per dollar on average, and recovery odds fall sharply once an invoice passes 12 months, so delaying collection is never a neutral choice. 

Sources

• U.S. Bureau of Labor Statistics (BLS), The Employment Situation — May 2026 (released June 5, 2026). https://www.bls.gov/news.release/empsit.nr0.htm
• U.S. Bureau of Labor Statistics, Current Employment Statistics / Employment Projections (total employment).
• U.S. Bureau of Labor Statistics, Job Openings and Labor Turnover Survey (JOLTS) — April 2026 (released June 2, 2026). https://www.bls.gov/news.release/jolts.nr0.htm
• Hiring-activity index (year-over-year hiring change), 2026.
• U.S. Bureau of Labor Statistics, Employment Projections 2024–34 (released 2026). https://www.bls.gov/emp/
• IBISWorld, Debt Collection Agencies in the US — industry report, market-size and number-of-businesses statistics, 2025–2026. https://www.ibisworld.com/united-states/industry/debt-collection-agencies/1474/
• U.S. Bureau of Labor Statistics, Occupational Outlook Handbook: Bill and Account Collectors. https://www.bls.gov/ooh/office-and-administrative-support/bill-and-account-collectors.htm
• Industry statistics compilation (secondary aggregator). Note: figures attributed to this source were not independently verifiable against a primary source; verify before relying on them.
• U.S. Bureau of Labor Statistics, Occupational Outlook Handbook: Bill and Account Collectors (employment by industry).
• U.S. Bureau of Labor Statistics, Occupational Outlook Handbook: Bill and Account Collectors (pay and job outlook).
• IBISWorld, Debt Collection Agencies in the US (market size). https://www.ibisworld.com/united-states/market-size/debt-collection-agencies/1474/
• U.S. Bureau of Labor Statistics, Occupational Outlook Handbook: Business and Financial Occupations and Occupational Employment and Wage Statistics (OEWS), May 2024.
• Debt-collection industry turnover analysis (industry source).
• Contact-center and collections workforce analysis (industry source).
• Collections hiring-cost analysis (industry source).
• Staffing Industry Analysts (SIA), US Staffing Industry Forecast, as reported via Workwell Global / SIA Global Talk, 2026. https://workwell-global.com/blog/global-staffing-industry-trends
• IBISWorld, Office Staffing & Temp Agencies in the US (industry report), 2026.
• IBISWorld, Office Staffing & Temp Agencies in the US (market size), 2026.
• IBISWorld, Employment & Recruiting Agencies in the US (number of businesses), 2026.
• American Staffing Association (ASA), Staffing Industry Statistics. https://americanstaffing.net/research/fact-sheets-analysis-staffing-industry-trends/staffing-industry-statistics/
• American Staffing Association, Staffing Employment and Sales Rebound in Fourth Quarter (Q4 2025), March 2026. https://americanstaffing.net/posts/2026/03/30/employment-and-sales-rebound-in-q4/
• American Staffing Association, ASA Staffing Index — Maintains Growth in December (December 2025). https://americanstaffing.net/posts/2025/12/23/growth-in-december-25/
• American Staffing Association, ASA Staffing Index — Index Building Modest Gains, Continues to Surpass 2024 (November 2025). https://americanstaffing.net/posts/2025/11/25/nov-25/
• Staffing Industry Analysts / ASA, temporary & contract staffing sales.
• American Staffing Association, Staffing Employment Ticks Up in Third Quarter (Q3 2025), December 2025. https://americanstaffing.net/posts/2025/12/29/staffing-employment-ticks-up-in-third-quarter/
• Staffing-agency growth/revenue survey, 2025–2026.
• Global recruiting/staffing industry report (talent shortage, AI adoption, application abandonment), 2025–2026.
• Recruiter market-outlook survey, 2026.
• Marketing-agency industry data source (agency counts and employment).
• IBISWorld, Advertising Agencies in the US (industry report and market-size statistics), 2025–2026. https://www.ibisworld.com/united-states/industry/advertising-agencies/1433/
• In-house marketing job-listings tracker, Q1 2026.
• U.S. Bureau of Labor Statistics, Occupational Outlook Handbook: Advertising, Promotions, and Marketing Managers. https://www.bls.gov/ooh/management/advertising-promotions-and-marketing-managers.htm
• Workforce turnover data by job function (e.g., LinkedIn talent data).
• Marketing-agency turnover survey, 2023–2024.
• Forrester, Predictions 2026: Marketing Agencies Resign Their Agency (2025). https://www.forrester.com/blogs/predictions-2026-marketing-agencies-resign-their-agency/
• Forrester, Predictions 2026: Marketing Agencies (coverage via industry press).
• Forrester Predictions 2026 and reporting in The Drum, Forrester Predicts 15% Agency Job Losses in 2026 (CEO quote; private-equity figure). https://www.thedrum.com/news/forrester-predicts-15-agency-job-losses-2026-the-agencies-agents-era-over
• Forrester 2026 agency job-loss composition (clerical/admin, sales/BD, market research), via industry analysis.
• SaaS industry statistics compilation; 2024 tech layoff figures from Layoffs.fyi (≈152,900 layoffs across ~551 companies in 2024). https://layoffs.fyi/
• SaaS talent/hiring demand report, 2025–2026.
• Federal Reserve Economic Data (FRED) and developer job-market analysis (job postings, AI/ML postings), 2026.
• Indeed Hiring Lab, software-development job-posting trends, 2025–2026. https://www.hiringlab.org/
• Software-developer labor-market analysis, 2025–2026.
• U.S. Bureau of Labor Statistics, Occupational Outlook Handbook: Software Developers, Quality Assurance Analysts, and Testers (15% growth, 2024–34). https://www.bls.gov/ooh/computer-and-information-technology/software-developers.htm
• Technology-sector unemployment data, 2025.
• U.S. Bureau of Labor Statistics (manufacturing employment) and JOLTS manufacturing openings, 2026.
• Manufacturing employment analysis based on BLS Current Employment Statistics, 2025–2026.
• Institute for Supply Management (ISM), Manufacturing PMI / Report on Business (April–May 2026), and BLS manufacturing employment data. https://www.ismworld.org/
• National Association of Manufacturers (NAM) / Deloitte manufacturing workforce study.
• U.S. Bureau of Labor Statistics, finance and insurance sector employment and job openings, 2026.
• Challenger, Gray & Christmas (financial-sector job cuts) and BLS (financial-sector job gains), 2025.
• The Business Research Company, Financial Services Global Market Report 2025/2026 (≈$47.55 trillion by 2029 at 7.1% CAGR). https://www.thebusinessresearchcompany.com/
• U.S. Bureau of Labor Statistics, The Employment Situation (wholesale trade; transportation and warehousing), February–May 2026. https://www.bls.gov/news.release/empsit.nr0.htm
• U.S. Bureau of Labor Statistics, Current Employment Statistics (wholesale trade, monthly change), March 2026.
• U.S. Bureau of Labor Statistics, Current Employment Statistics (wholesale trade), 2025–2026.
• Warehouse and light-industrial labor-market report (job postings, wages, experience requirements), 2025.

The Kaplan Group — Original Research

• Are Marketing Jobs Growing Faster Than the Rest of the U.S. Labor Market? (June 2026). 
• How AI Is Transforming Debt Collection (May 2026). 
• Which Industries Are Putting Staffing Agencies Under the Most Pressure? (April 2026). 
• Why Collecting What Small Businesses Are Owed Has Never Been Harder? (April 2026). 
• Is the Collector Crunch Leaving Too Few People to Collect Debt? (July 2026)