Job postings mentioning artificial intelligence have surged 134% above pre-pandemic levels, even as overall hiring stagnates, according to new data from Indeed’s Hiring Lab. The growth signals a dramatic shift in how employers are reshaping roles across industries beyond traditional tech, with AI-related skills now appearing in marketing, human resources, finance, and management positions.
The Indeed AI Tracker reached 4.2% in December 2025, the highest share on record, marking a sharp divergence from broader hiring trends. While overall job postings finished 2025 only 6% above their February 2020 baseline, postings mentioning AI-related keywords climbed 134% above that same period, according to the January 2026 labor market update from Indeed’s economic research team.
This growth accelerated following the release of ChatGPT and other large language models in late 2022. From mid-2020 to early 2022, AI job growth had been driven by traditional machine learning and data science roles. After peaking in early 2022, that demand fell, and the AI tracker declined in tandem. The trend reversed starting in mid-2023, as demand for generative AI skills began pushing the share of AI-mentioning postings back up.
AI Skills Spreading Across Non-Tech Sectors
The expansion of AI job titles extends well beyond software development and data science. Nearly 45% of data and analytics postings now contain AI-related terms, the highest rate among all occupational groups analyzed. But the trend is accelerating in knowledge work sectors that historically had little connection to AI.
Marketing roles show the sharpest recent growth: AI mentions in job postings jumped from 8.4% at the start of 2025 to 14.9% by December. Human resources postings nearly doubled their AI mentions, rising from 4.4% to 8.8% over the same period. Similar patterns emerged in banking and finance, management, project management, and accounting, according to Indeed’s analysis of millions of job postings.
The divergence between AI-mentioning jobs and overall hiring is stark. In the tech sector specifically, postings that mention AI were about 45% higher than February 2020 levels by the end of 2025, while total tech postings had fallen 34% below pre-pandemic levels. This means employers are concentrating their limited hiring on AI-focused roles even as they trim payroll elsewhere.
Weak overall hiring has amplified this shift. The total number of US job postings on Indeed at year-end 2025 was only 6% above baseline, pre-pandemic levels, reflecting a labor market that has cooled significantly from the pandemic-era hiring surge. Job gains in 2025 were more than 1.4 million fewer than they would have been at 2024’s pace, and job seekers have grown cautious about switching roles.
For workers, the data suggests that developing and highlighting AI skills may be critical to landing a job in 2026, particularly in occupations where overall hiring remains muted. However, only about 43% of US workers reported regularly using AI at work in 2025, and roughly 40% said they were actively disengaged with AI tools, according to Indeed Hiring Lab survey data. As AI becomes more routine in the workplace, expanding both access and comfort with these tools will be necessary.
Sources
- Indeed Hiring Lab — January 2026 US Labor Market Update; AI Tracker data showing 4.2% share in December 2025 and 134% growth in AI-mentioning postings; sector-level data on marketing, human resources, data and analytics, and other occupations
- UW Online Collaboratives — February 2026 report noting AI-related skills appearing in more than 78% of IT job postings
- Fortune — May 2026 interview with Indeed Chief Economist reporting 14% year-over-year growth in software development postings and 47% mentioning AI
