Dive Brief:
- Job applications in the U.S. increased 6% in July, and hiring stayed flat year over year, while openings ended 17% above the July 2025 baseline, according to the latest Workforce Report from software firm ICIMS.
- The study said this represents “the widest gap between employer demand and hiring activity” this year. The divide was especially notable in the manufacturing sector, where job openings were up 29% over the baseline in July, representing the largest sector increase. Manufacturing hires fell 6% below baseline.
- Meanwhile, manufacturing applications were 4% above baseline in July. The report said this meant there are candidates entering the job funnel but that companies aren’t able to successfully convert applicant interest into hires “at the pace demand requires.”
Dive Insight:
The report examined data from more than 3.1 million users and 691 million candidate profiles and found what it called an increasing disparity between employer demand, candidate activity and hiring outcomes.
In the manufacturing sector, the applicant pool is getting younger, the report said. In July, applicants under 45 years old accounted for 85% of overall manufacturing applicants, up from 79% year over year. At the same time, workers 45 and older represented almost half (47%) of the sector’s workforce.
“If there’s one sector that keeps defying expectations this year, it is manufacturing,” Trent Cotton, head of talent insights at ICIMS, said in a statement. “Every time we think the growth has peaked, the next month proves us wrong.”
However, Cotton added that “growth alone does not fill a role.”
“Recruiting organizations are being asked to keep pace with demand that is climbing faster than their hiring engines can absorb, and that gap is where the real story is,” Cotton said.
According to recent data from the U.S. Bureau of Labor Statistics, the manufacturing industry added 5,000 jobs in July, representing a 145% increase from July 2025, when 11,000 jobs were cut.