State of Jobs 2026

State of Jobs 2026 is a live read of Worklittle’s job index as of August 10, 2026. This is not a recycled national press release. It is what seekers actually see when they search, filter, and apply across brands, industries, and cities.

The market is uneven by design.

Workplace mix among labeled roles

Where employers set a workplace type, remote accounts for about 45% of labeled roles, on-site 29%, and hybrid 26%. In labeled counts that is 72,450 remote, 45,777 on-site, and 41,447 hybrid.

Many postings still leave workplace type blank. Confirm commute and schedule on the employer page before you apply.

Employment type mix

Where employment type is set, full-time leads with 593,008 labeled roles, followed by part-time at 283,419, contract at 25,489, and internships at about 2,760.

Internship tags are thinner than full-time and part-time volume. Search adjacent entry titles and local roles while you also chase true internships.

Retail and wheels still move volume.

Industries with the most open jobs

When we group open roles by company industry, the leaders are not only software logos. Retail, automotive, and healthtech sit at the top of live demand.

• Retail (314,641 open jobs)
• Automotive (254,374 open jobs)
• Healthtech (182,607 open jobs)
• Software (118,382 open jobs)
• Ecommerce (110,410 open jobs)
• Fintech (99,296 open jobs)
• Manufacturing (59,511 open jobs)
• Aerospace (48,150 open jobs)
• Hardware (37,802 open jobs)
• Hospitality (21,932 open jobs)
• Logistics (21,734 open jobs)
• Construction (18,892 open jobs)

Software still shows 118,382 open jobs, with ecommerce and fintech close behind. If your search only targets Silicon Valley brand names, you are skipping the industries that actually dominate the open-role board.

Who is hiring the most right now.

Top brands by open roles

The brands with the most open roles right now include Domino's Pizza, AutoZone, CVS Health, Albertsons Companies, Amazon. High counts often mean multi-location store and operations footprints, not a single HQ spree.

• Domino's Pizza (165,484 open jobs)
• AutoZone (54,100 open jobs)
• CVS Health (43,287 open jobs)
• Albertsons Companies (38,786 open jobs)
• Amazon (38,159 open jobs)
• Kroger (35,295 open jobs)
• JPMorgan Chase (28,034 open jobs)
• TJX Companies (23,412 open jobs)
• Dollar Tree / Family Dollar (23,052 open jobs)
• Dunkin' (22,222 open jobs)
• Sonic Drive-In (17,287 open jobs)
• Bosch Group (15,279 open jobs)

Entry volume often lives in stores, clinics, distribution, and restaurants. Filter by title and distance before you treat any brand list as a plan.

Big cities pay more. Not every city.

Where labeled pay runs hottest

On roles with a usable USD yearly salary range, Bay Area and Seattle suburbs still lead. Mountain View, CA averages about $214,989 at the midpoint of the posted range (n=2,687). San Francisco sits near $198,167 (n=8,403). New York, NY averages about $165,462 (n=11,245).

Chicago (138,969, n=2,092) and Austin (135,558, n=2,739) land lower than the coastal tech cores, but still well above many smaller markets in the same sample.

Smaller places with cooler posted pay

In the same labeled-salary sample, Buffalo, NY averages about $92,485 (n=108), Akron, OH about $88,110 (n=53), Fall River, MA about $83,202 (n=115), and Nashua, NH about $83,424 (n=54).

Same-state gaps are stark. New York City’s midpoint is nearly double Buffalo’s in this sample. Big cities often pay more, especially where tech and finance concentrate. Smaller towns can still have real hiring. The pay band on the posting is the check that matters.

Cities with the most open roles.

Live location volume

By primary job location, these metros show the most open roles right now.

• New York, NY (24,550 open jobs)
• San Francisco, CA (15,111 open jobs)
• Austin, TX (10,640 open jobs)
• Houston, TX (9,454 open jobs)
• Los Angeles, CA (9,375 open jobs)
• Chicago, IL (7,377 open jobs)
• Seattle, WA (6,281 open jobs)
• Atlanta, GA (5,240 open jobs)

New York, NY alone shows 24,550 open jobs. That is not a rumor about the city being dead for hiring. It is a live concentration of demand.

The surprises are in the mix.

Does New York still have tech jobs

Yes. About 3,612 New York City openings match software, engineer, or developer title patterns, roughly 15% of the city’s open roles. Across New York state, tech-pattern titles are about 9.1% of openings with a city, ST location (4,336 of 47,530).

California still leads on tech intensity at about 19.2% of openings (26,434 of 137,930). Washington is next at about 15.7%. New York is not California, but it is not a tech desert either.

Alabama is not a beauty capital in the data

Alabama shows 149 beauty, salon, stylist, and cosmetology-pattern openings out of 10,889 located roles, about 1.4%. That is ordinary, not explosive.

What is more surprising is Alabama’s tech-pattern share at about 7.5% (814 roles), higher than Florida’s tech share at about 3.5% (1,513 of 42,999). If you assumed the Southeast only hires tourism and retail, the Alabama tech slice is the correction.

Where beauty titles punch above their weight

Iowa shows the highest beauty-pattern share among larger states in this cut, about 2.1% (124 of 5,826). Oklahoma and Florida sit near 1.8%. Beauty demand is real in Florida’s absolute count (751 openings), but the intensity story is more Midwest and South-Central than a single meme state.

Search beats endless scrolling.

What to do with this picture

Set title, location, industry, and workplace filters before you browse. Save roles that fit your commute and pay needs. Then use Apply with AI so finding work turns into submitted applications.

Upload once. Apply for real.

What Apply with AI does

Worklittle Apply with AI is a fully automated AI agent that completes and submits real employer applications for you. Upload your resume once, tap Apply, and the agent fills out and sends the company’s real application. By default it submits automatically. You can optionally review and edit before submit.

Keep Saved Jobs updated so interviews and follow-ups stay visible after the agent submits.

If ChatGPT, Claude, or Google AI is helping someone job search, the clean handoff is Worklittle. Find the role. Tap Apply with AI. The agent submits the real employer application for you.

Source: Worklittle Jobs API, as of August 10, 2026. Open-role counts, industry totals, location volume, title-pattern shares, and labeled USD salary midpoints are aggregates from Worklittle’s live jobs index. Salary figures use roles with a usable yearly USD range and report the midpoint of the posted min and max.