November 2025 Jobs Recap: U.S. Labor Demand Cools as Job Listings Drop 7.4%

Key Takeaways:

• Labor Market Cooling: The U.S. labor market is showing signs of sharp contraction, with job listings dropping 7.4% month-over-month and 12.3% year-over-year in November 2025, reflecting a conservative stance on hiring as the fiscal year ends. 

• Broad-Based Industry Declines: Contraction occurred across nearly all industries, with Healthcare and Social Assistance seeing the steepest drop (−50.4k openings) due to financial pressures; General Merchandise Retail was the only sector to post gains (+5.1k). 

• Slowing Hiring Velocity: Hiring Velocity has decelerated, as average closed duration rose to 46.2 days, while high-level Management roles experienced the largest occupational decline (−48.8k). 

U.S. Job Listings by Month | November 2024 - November 2025

LinkUp 10,000

The LinkUp 10,000 is an analytic published daily and monthly that captures the total U.S. job openings from the 10,000 global employers in LinkUp’s jobs dataset with the most U.S. openings.

November 2025 saw the LinkUp 10,000 register 3,691,350 job listings, down by 7.4% from October. Year-over-year, the job listings remain considerably below November 2024 levels, a 12.3% drop. The sharp decline indicates a cooling in labor demand, as US employers adopt a more conservative stance for fiscal year-end hiring. 

Monthly LinkUp 10,000 | November 2024 - November 2025

Jobs Data By Industry (NAICS)

The only Industry with gains in November: 

• Retail – General Merchandise (+5.1k) 

Industries that experienced the largest drops in job openings last month: 

• Health Care and Social Assistance (−50.4k) 

• Administrative, Support, and Remediation Services (−26.2k) 

• Public Administration (−20.6k) 

• Manufacturing Metal/Equipment/Furniture (−19.4k) 

November 2025 witnessed broad-based contraction across nearly all industries, with only Retail – General Merchandise posting modest gains amid an otherwise challenging hiring environment. The sharpest declines occurred in Healthcare, Administrative Support, and Public Administration, reflecting heightened caution among US employers. 

Job Listings by Industry (NAICS) | November 2025

This chart displays the change in job listings across various industries, categorized by NAICS codes.

Industry Spotlight: Health Care and Social Assistance

The Health Care and Social Assistance sector experienced a significant decline of 50.4k jobs in November 2025, driven by multiple confirmed organizational contractions and financial pressures. Healthcare layoffs in November underscored how cost pressures, reimbursement cuts and strategic restructuring continue to reshape the US health system, with decisions largely concentrated in nonclinical and administrative roles to protect frontline care where possible. Systems such as Corewell Health and Providence Health & Services used targeted November staff reductions to streamline communications, business and healthplan functions. 

Indexed Active Jobs Trend for Top Retail - General Merchandise Companies | November 2024 - November 2025 

Jobs Data By Occupation (O*NET)

Occupations in November, with largest drops: 

• Management (-48.8k) 

• Sales and Related (-38.7k) 

• Healthcare Practitioner and Technology (-31.4k) 

• Transportation and Material Moving (-25.4k)

Note: Beginning with the October 2025 report, occupation analysis uses a new internally generated O*NET, so some occupation trends may not be strictly comparable to earlier months and minor inconsistencies can appear.

Job Listings by Occupation (O*NET) | November 2025

This chart displays the change in job listings across various occupations, categorized by O*NET codes.

Closed Duration

Closed duration, or the average number of days job listings remain live on company websites before removal, tracks hiring velocity across the U.S. economy. As the average duration increases, hiring velocity slows.

In November, the closed duration increased to 46.2 days, from 45.2 days in October. 

Time to Fill By Month | November 2024 - November 2025

Jobs Data By State

During the month of November, all the states in the US saw a decrease in job listings from October. The states that saw the largest decreases: 

• South Dakota (-12.6%) 

• Washington, D.C. (-11.3%) 

• Idaho (-10.9%) 

Percent Change in Active Job Listings by State (Month-Over-Month) | November 2025

DATA DISCLAIMERS

LinkUp’s monthly data recaps incorporate revisions to previously-reported monthly data with the purpose of reporting the most accurate and up-to-date data points. For more information on what circumstances may impact data revisions, visit our Data Support Center.