For retailers and hospitality operators, staffing decisions must be made weeks or months before official labor data becomes available. The IHL Hiring Demand Index (HDI) from IHL Group provides a timely alternative: a weekly measure of open job postings across nearly a million stores in the United States, Canada, and Europe. Published every Monday, the index offers a real-time look at where hiring demand is building, helping businesses move from reactive to proactive workforce planning.
The HDI tracks open job postings at companies representing 942,937 store locations. By indexing data to a baseline of 100 (set June 7, 2026), the index makes week-over-week and four-week trends easy to grasp. Whether a company is staffing up for the holiday rush or investing in technology roles, the HDI delivers a clear signal before government payroll figures catch up.
What is the IHL Hiring Demand Index?
The IHL Hiring Demand Index is a weekly publication built from IHL Group’s Sophia job-postings panel. It reports overall hiring demand broken down by job function (store operations, restaurant and kitchen, technology), the share of seasonal and holiday roles, and regional trends for the United States, Canada, and Europe. Each company is compared only against itself from one week to the next, so companies entering or leaving the panel do not distort the index.
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The index is designed as a leading indicator. While official vacancy figures describe data from months prior, the HDI shows where employers are planning to add people right now. For the week ending October 11, 2026, the index stood at 106.0, with seasonal roles rising to 7.4% of all postings — clear evidence that holiday hiring was already underway.
What Stands Out
Granular breakdowns by function and region
The index doesn’t just offer a single number. It breaks out hiring demand by job function: store operations (55.6% of identifiable postings in the latest week), restaurant and kitchen roles (13.7%), and technology positions (0.8%). Regional data shows Canada up 2.4% week-over-week, Europe up 2.3%, and the United States down 1.2% — giving a nuanced picture of where demand is shifting.
Seasonal and holiday hiring visibility
With holiday staffing critical for retailers, the HDI tracks the share of seasonal roles. In the latest report, seasonal and holiday postings rose from 2.1% four weeks earlier to 7.4% — a valuable early signal for workforce planners and temporary staffing providers.
Skill-level insights for technology roles
Among technology postings with full job descriptions, the index reveals that SQL and Python each appear in 21% of listings, and agentic AI appears in 5%. This granularity helps technology vendors and training providers understand where demand for specialized skills is growing.
Who It’s For
The IHL Hiring Demand Index is designed for retail and hospitality executives, restaurant operators, technology vendors, and investors who need a weekly read on frontline labor demand. Retailers can use the data to benchmark their own hiring plans against industry trends, while technology vendors can identify which roles and skills are gaining traction. Investors monitoring the health of the retail sector can gain a forward-looking view of employment trends before official reports.
The index is also useful for workforce planners and staffing agencies that need to anticipate seasonal surges. Because the data is published weekly and freely accessible, it removes the guesswork from hiring strategy and provides a common reference point for the entire industry.
What Makes It Worth Considering
One of the strongest features of the HDI is its timeliness. While government data can lag by months, the HDI appears every Monday with data from the previous week. This allows decision-makers to spot trends early — a critical advantage in industries where staffing shortages can directly impact sales and customer experience.
The methodology is also sound. By comparing each company against its own prior week, the index avoids distortions from panel changes. The four-week average smooths out single-week swings, giving a reliable trend line. And because the index measures open job postings (a forward-looking indicator of hiring intent), it correlates well with eventual official employment data.
Finally, the HDI is free to access. The full first issue, including exhibits by job function and region, methodology, and comparison with official statistics, is available on the IHL Group website. This makes it an accessible tool for businesses of all sizes, not just large enterprises with dedicated analytics teams.
Verdict
The IHL Hiring Demand Index fills a genuine gap in the retail and hospitality analytics landscape. It offers a weekly, granular, and forward-looking view of hiring demand that official data cannot match. For any business that relies on frontline staffing, this index is a practical and timely resource.
Frequently asked questions
It measures open job postings at retail and hospitality companies across the US, Canada, and Europe, indexed to a baseline of 100.
Every Monday a new issue is published at ihlservices.com.
Retailers, restaurant operators, technology vendors, and investors looking for a weekly read on frontline labor demand.
The full first issue and subsequent weekly reports are available on the IHL Group website at no charge.
It uses IHL Group's Sophia job-postings panel and compares each company against its own prior week to avoid panel changes affecting the index.
Store operations, restaurant and kitchen, technology roles, plus seasonal and holiday positions.
Yes, the index includes technology role postings and mentions of skills like SQL, Python, and agentic AI, helping tech vendors align with demand.
