ABOUT THIS REPORT The Eastridge Quarterly Talent Intelligence is designed to help HR leaders and hiring managers make more confident workforce decisions. Each issue translates national labor market data from Lightcast into practical guidance on which roles are hardest to fill, where wages are moving, and how to build a talent strategy that stays ahead of the market. KEY TAKEAWAYS What HR Leaders Should Know Right Now Short on time? These are the four findings with the most direct implications for your hiring strategy heading into 2027. The labor market is loosening, but not in the roles that matter most to operations National unemployment rose to 4.39% in June, up from 3.99% in April. Even so, production, maintenance, and skilled technical roles remain among the most posted jobs in manufacturing. Job growth is slowing sharply The U.S. added nearly 17 million jobs from 2020 to 2025. Lightcast projects fewer than 8 million over the next five years. With slower growth, most hiring will be to replace workers who leave rather than to add headcount. Maintenance technicians are the pressure point in manufacturing It is the most posted job title in manufacturing this quarter and takes 24 days to fill, well above the 15-day national median. When a maintenance seat sits empty, the cost to operations adds up quickly. Employers are leaning on staffing partners Employment placement agencies and temporary help services posted about 740,000 unique jobs in July and August, roughly one in every ten postings nationally. Five of the six largest job posters were staffing firms. Market Data • Dataset: Lightcast Q3 2026 • Vertical postings: Jun 29 to Sep 26, 2026 • Labor force data: through June 2026 • Published: October 2026 • National postings: 7.26M, Jul to Aug 2026