The Hiring Pulse, 4 October 2026: Global job vacancies fall to new panel low

Daily brief, October 4, 2026

The stable-panel openings index fell to 98.19 as weekend posting slowed, while US employers added 29,000 jobs in September.

• According to the Arihaan crawl, Speechify reduced its open vacancies by 97.6% over the week to 4 October, dropping from 254 roles to 6.
• Postings in financial services dropped 2.9% like for like over seven days, a net reduction of 2,981 positions led by State Street, which cut 409 jobs.
• BLS Current Employment Statistics reported that US nonfarm payrolls grew by 29,000 in September, down from 133,000 in August, as the unemployment rate reached 4.2% in BLS survey data.
• Bucking the broader slowdown, DICK'S Sporting Goods expanded listings by 28.4% to 3,984 open roles, adding 880 postings over the week.
• The Arihaan crawl recorded 35,819 jobs opened and 34,325 closed on 3 October, reflecting typical weekend declines in overall activity across employer career sites.

Chart of the day

Open vacancies at Speechify fell from 254 to 6 between 27 September and 4 October 2026 according to the Arihaan crawl.

More reports

• Education and training vacancies concentrate in childcare and schooling
• The Hiring Pulse, 21 October 2026: Retail hiring expands as global index stabilises
• Australian hiring softens as service demand anchors volume
• The Hiring Pulse, 20 October 2026: Media and corporate recruiters scale back hiring

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