Indeed Job Postings Index (US)

Indeed Hiring Lab publishes a daily index of U.S. job postings on its platform, normalized to February 2020 = 100. The index reached 161.2 in March 2022, when the post-pandemic labor market was overheating. As of June 2026, it sits at 100.2 — only modestly above the pre-pandemic baseline. Postings are 38% below that peak reading.

The line has been nearly flat for six months. That flatness is the news. The index isn't crashing the way it did in the early 2020 lockdown or the 2008-2009 recession. It also isn't recovering. Employers aren't posting fewer openings because demand collapsed. They're posting fewer openings because they aren't hiring the way they were two years ago.

A flatlined hiring index is the mechanism behind several of the labor-market tells further downstream. JOLTS Quits Rate has fallen to the low end of its post-2015 range because workers can feel that the next job isn't easier to find. Continued Unemployment Claims has drifted up toward 1.8 million because laid-off workers are staying on unemployment insurance longer. Part-Time for Economic Reasons sits near 4.5 million, above the 2022-2023 baseline.

What the Indeed index tells you that the unemployment rate doesn't is the demand side of the market. Jobs posted, not just jobs lost. And right now, demand isn't recovering — it's holding flat at a level the labor market has already outgrown.