Dupple original data
HR statistics 2026
Most HR statistics pages recycle the same engagement survey. This one leads with data only Dupple can publish. Our news radar indexes roughly one million tech articles a year, and across the 645,653 headlines it catalogued between July 2025 and August 2026, the HR story in the tech press became a story about cutting, not hiring: layoffs coverage rose from 17.2 to 27.6 mentions per 10,000 headlines, and "workforce" coverage doubled, as AI reshaped headcount. Our first-party finding comes first, then a tightly sourced set of figures on engagement, turnover, and HR technology, each deep-linked to the page it came from. For related reading, see our recruiting statistics and our remote work statistics.
Proprietary, Dupple data
The number we can publish and others cannot
layoffs mentions per 10,000 tech-news headlines, past year
In the tech press, HR is now framed around headcount. The share of headlines mentioning layoffs rose from 17.2 to 27.6 per 10,000 between Q3 2025 and Q1 2026, and coverage of the "workforce" doubled from 9.0 to 18.6 as AI moved from pilot to restructuring. The generic term "human resources" barely registers at 0.2 per 10,000, because the story now runs through cuts and skills.
Source: Dupple news radar, September 17, 2026. Share of coverage = headlines containing the term (case-insensitive) divided by all headlines indexed that period, measured only in the mature window (July 2025 onward) when the index reached full volume.
The short version
Key takeaways
- Dupple data: layoffs coverage rose from 17.2 to 27.6 mentions per 10,000 tech headlines between Q3 2025 and Q1 2026, appearing in 1,426 headlines over the past year.Source: Dupple news radar (September 2026)
- Dupple data: coverage of the workforce doubled to 18.6 per 10,000 headlines, while the term "human resources" barely registers at 0.2.Source: Dupple news radar (September 2026)
- US employers announced 1,206,374 job cuts in 2025, up 58% and the highest annual total since the pandemic.Source: Challenger, Gray & Christmas, 2025 Year-End Report
- Just 31% of US employees were engaged at work in 2024, matching the lowest level in a decade.Source: Gallup, U.S. Employee Engagement, 2025
- Voluntary turnover costs US businesses an estimated 1 trillion dollars a year.Source: Gallup, 2019
- Median job tenure slipped to 3.9 years in 2024, the lowest since 2002.Source: US Bureau of Labor Statistics, Employee Tenure Summary, 2024
- 45% of US employees used AI at work at least a few times a year by the third quarter of 2025, up from 40% a quarter earlier.Source: Gallup, AI Use at Work Rises, 2025
- By 2030, 70% of the skills used in most jobs are expected to change, with AI as the catalyst.Source: LinkedIn, Work Change Report, 2025
Proprietary, Dupple news radar
Layoffs took over the HR conversation
We index the full tech-news firehose to build our newsletters, so we can watch a topic move. The chart shows how many headlines out of every 10,000 we indexed mentioned layoffs, by quarter. The share climbed sharply into early 2026 as AI-linked restructuring hit the news, then stayed elevated.
layoffs mentions per 10,000 tech-news headlines
Complete calendar quarters only. Layoffs coverage peaked in the first quarter of 2026 and remained well above its 2025 level.
Source: Dupple news radar, September 17, 2026. Method: case-insensitive substring match of "layoffs" against tech-news headlines, divided by all headlines indexed that quarter. We report share of coverage rather than raw counts because our index scaled to full volume in mid-2025; comparisons are limited to the mature window (July 2025 onward).
Proprietary, Dupple news radar
The workforce topics in the headlines
Ranking the people topics in our index shows where HR attention actually goes. Layoffs, hiring, the workforce, and talent all out-cover the formal term "human resources" many times over, because the news frames HR through what is happening to jobs, not the function that manages them.
| HR topic | Headlines, past year | Per 10,000 | Q3 2025 to Q2 2026 |
|---|---|---|---|
| Layoffs | 1,426 | 22.1 | 17.2 to 24.5 |
| Hiring | 1,051 | 16.3 | 16.5 to 18.7 |
| Talent | 908 | 14.1 | trend flat to rising |
| Workforce | 891 | 13.8 | 9.0 to 17.8, rising |
| Human resources | 10 | 0.2 | near zero |
- Dupple's network of B2B newsletters reaches 860,000+ verified professionals, the workforce these HR trends are about.
Source: Dupple news radar and Dupple internal audience data, September 17, 2026. Headline counts cover July 2025 to August 2026.
Industry context, sourced
Layoffs dominate the HR story
The coverage surge we measured tracks a real wave of cuts. 2025 was the heaviest year for announced layoffs since the pandemic.
- US employers announced 1,206,374 job cuts in 2025, up 58% from 761,358 the year before.Source: Challenger, Gray & Christmas, 2025 Year-End Report
- DOGE actions were the single biggest stated reason for 2025 cuts, tied to 293,753 planned layoffs.Source: Challenger, Gray & Christmas, 2025 Year-End Report
- Employers announced only 507,647 planned hires in 2025, down 34% and the lowest since 2010.Source: Challenger, Gray & Christmas, 2025 Year-End Report
- Even so, monthly layoffs and discharges stayed at 1.7 million in July 2026, a rate of just 1.0%, a sign employers lean on attrition over mass firings.Source: US Bureau of Labor Statistics, JOLTS, July 2026
Industry context, sourced
Openings, quits, and shrinking tenure
The wider market cooled from its post-pandemic peak, and workers are staying in jobs for less time than at any point since 2002.
- US job openings held at 7.3 million in July 2026, with 5.1 million hires.Source: US Bureau of Labor Statistics, JOLTS, July 2026
- About 3.1 million workers quit in July 2026, a quits rate of 1.9% that sits well below the Great Resignation high.Source: US Bureau of Labor Statistics, JOLTS, July 2026
- Median job tenure slipped to 3.9 years in 2024, down from 4.1 in 2022 and the lowest since 2002.Source: US Bureau of Labor Statistics, Employee Tenure Summary, 2024
Industry context, sourced
Engagement hit a 10-year low
As the cuts landed, so did morale. Engagement is back to levels last seen in 2014.
- Just 31% of US employees were engaged at work in 2024, the lowest in a decade.Source: Gallup, U.S. Employee Engagement, 2025
- 17% of US employees were actively disengaged in 2024, back to 2014 levels.Source: Gallup, U.S. Employee Engagement, 2025
Industry context, sourced
Turnover is expensive
Losing people is not just a morale problem; it is one of the largest hidden costs on the balance sheet.
- Voluntary turnover costs US businesses an estimated 1 trillion dollars a year.Source: Gallup, 2019
- Replacing one employee can cost from one-half to two times that person's annual salary.Source: Gallup, 2019
Industry context, sourced
AI reshapes the workforce
The other half of the HR story in our index is AI, which is now embedded in daily work and is expected to rewrite most job skills. For the hiring side, see our recruiting statistics.
- 45% of US employees used AI at work at least a few times a year by the third quarter of 2025, up from 40% a quarter earlier.Source: Gallup, AI Use at Work Rises, 2025
- 76% of workers in technology roles use AI on the job at least occasionally, the highest of any industry.Source: Gallup, AI Use at Work Rises, 2025
- By 2030, 70% of the skills used in most jobs are expected to change, with AI as the catalyst.Source: LinkedIn, Work Change Report, 2025
- Workers entering the job market today are on track to hold twice as many jobs across their careers as people did 15 years ago.Source: LinkedIn, Work Change Report, 2025
Frequently asked questions
Common questions
How many layoffs happened in 2025?
Challenger, Gray & Christmas counted 1,206,374 announced US job cuts in 2025, up 58% from 2024 and the highest annual total since the pandemic. DOGE actions were the leading stated reason, tied to 293,753 planned layoffs.
How engaged are US employees?
Gallup found just 31% of US employees were engaged at work in 2024, the lowest in a decade, with 17% actively disengaged, back to 2014 levels.
How much does employee turnover cost?
Gallup estimates voluntary turnover costs US businesses about 1 trillion dollars a year, and that replacing one employee can cost from one-half to two times their annual salary. Median tenure has fallen to 3.9 years, the lowest since 2002.
How much is AI used in the workplace?
Gallup found 45% of US employees used AI at work at least a few times a year by the third quarter of 2025, rising to 76% among technology workers. LinkedIn expects 70% of the skills used in most jobs to change by 2030.
How does Dupple measure these HR statistics?
Our proprietary figures come from Dupple's news radar, which indexes roughly a million tech articles a year. We count how often workforce topics appear in headlines and express them as a share of all coverage, so the numbers are not distorted by the total volume we index. Every borrowed figure names a checkable source and links to the exact page it came from.
Method and sources
How this data was measured
The proprietary figures on this page come from Dupple's news radar, the index that powers our newsletters, which ingests roughly one million tech articles a year. To measure a topic we count headlines that contain the term (case-insensitive) and divide by all headlines indexed in the same period, giving a share of coverage in mentions per 10,000 headlines. We report share rather than raw counts, and we limit comparisons to the mature window from July 2025 onward, because our index scaled to full volume in mid-2025 and earlier months are not comparable. A high share of coverage means a topic dominates press attention, which is a proxy for salience, not a direct measure of layoffs volume; the sourced figures below quantify the underlying HR trends. Every external statistic names its source inline and links to the exact page or report that carries the figure; we drop any figure we cannot verify on the source page. This report was published on September 17, 2026, carries a visible last-updated date, and will be refreshed as the data changes. Byline: Louis Corneloup, Founder at Dupple.
Cite this report
Released under Creative Commons BY 4.0. Quote, link, and reuse the data with attribution to Dupple.
APA
MLA
External sources
- Challenger, Gray & Christmas, 2025 Year-End Job Cut Report
- US Bureau of Labor Statistics, JOLTS (July 2026)
- US Bureau of Labor Statistics, Employee Tenure Summary (2024)
- Gallup, U.S. Employee Engagement Sinks to 10-Year Low (2025)
- Gallup, The 1 Trillion Dollar Cost of Turnover (2019)
- Gallup, AI Use at Work Rises (2025)
- LinkedIn, Work Change Report (2025)
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