HR Statistics & Data to Know for 2026

Apr 28, 2026

The labor market shifted again in 2025. Engagement dropped, AI adoption surged, and the gap between what employees want and what companies offer kept widening.

This page pulls together the most current HR statistics and data from sources like the Bureau of Labor Statistics, Gallup, SHRM, Deloitte, and the World Economic Forum. Whether you’re building a business case, benchmarking your organization, or just trying to understand where things stand, these numbers tell the story.

Employee Turnover and Retention Statistics

Turnover remains one of the most expensive workforce challenges for employers. The numbers have stabilized somewhat from post-pandemic highs, but the cost of losing employees still hits hard.

The U.S. voluntary turnover rate sits at 13% annually [1]. Total separations reached 5.0 million in February 2026, with a monthly separation rate of 3.3% [2]. Job openings stood at 6.9 million that same month, with quits at 3.0 million and layoffs at 1.7 million [2].

Replacing an employee costs between 50% and 200% of their annual salary. For leaders and managers, the figure averages 200%. Technical roles run about 80%, and frontline workers cost roughly 40% to replace [3]. Voluntary turnover costs U.S. businesses an estimated $1 trillion per year [3].

36% of workers report heavier workloads because positions remain unfilled, and 61% of those carrying extra work report burnout [4]. Meanwhile, 51% of workers say they’d likely leave an employer that fails to address workplace concerns [4].

Recruitment and Hiring Statistics

Hiring hasn’t gotten cheaper or faster. Recruiters are handling heavier loads, executive hiring costs jumped, and only about half of HR professionals consider their own recruiting efforts effective.

The average cost per hire is $5,475 for non-executive roles. Executive hires average $35,879, a 21% increase from 2022 [5]. Median time to fill a position sits at 44 days [5].

Only 56% of HR professionals rate their organization’s recruiting efforts as effective. Just 41% of employees agree [4]. Over half of organizations have individual recruiters managing around 20 open requisitions each, with higher loads at larger companies [5].

Employee Engagement Statistics

Engagement fell to levels not seen in over a decade. The decline hit managers especially hard, which compounds the problem since managers drive most of the engagement variance on their teams.

Global employee engagement dropped to 21% in 2025, down from a peak of 23% in 2022. The estimated cost is $10 trillion in lost productivity worldwide [6]. U.S. engagement sits at 31%, an 11-year low [6].

Manager engagement fell from 31% in 2022 to 22% in 2025, a 5-point drop in a single year. 70% of team engagement variance depends on the manager [6]. Highly engaged teams are 18% more productive and see 23% higher profitability compared to teams with low engagement [6].

Best-practice organizations recorded manager engagement of 79%, nearly four times the global average [6]. And 34% of U.S. workers say they lack recognition for their contributions [4].

Remote and Hybrid Work Statistics

The return-to-office debate keeps generating headlines, but the data tells a clearer story than the op-eds. Hybrid work has settled in as the dominant model for remote-capable workers, and employees with flexible arrangements report higher engagement.

53% of remote-capable U.S. workers are hybrid in 2026. Another 27% work fully remote, and 20% are fully on-site [7]. 83% of employees worldwide prefer a hybrid setup that mixes remote and in-office days [8].

Hybrid workers report the highest engagement at 35%, compared to 33% for fully remote and 27% for fully on-site workers [8]. 65% of Gen Z and Millennial workers say they would leave their job if forced back to the office full time [8].

68% of organizations still prioritize flexible work benefits, though this dropped 2 percentage points year-over-year [9].

Diversity, Equity, and Inclusion Statistics

The business case for diversity continues to hold up in the data. Companies with diverse leadership outperform their peers financially, though representation gaps persist at senior levels.

Companies in the top quartile for gender diversity on executive teams have a 39% greater likelihood of financial outperformance versus bottom-quartile peers. The same holds for ethnic diversity [10].

Women hold 11% of Fortune 500 CEO positions (55 women) as of January 2025, the highest proportion ever recorded [11]. The U.S. workforce is 38.7% ethnic and racial minorities and 50.8% women, but only 27.4% of C-suite positions are held by women and 18.3% by people of color [11].

The global DEI market is projected to reach $15.4 billion by 2026, up from $7.5 billion in 2020 [12].

HR Technology and AI Statistics

AI adoption in HR doubled year-over-year, and the pace isn’t slowing. Recruitment leads the way, but role restructuring and workforce redeployment are picking up fast.

43% of organizations used AI for HR tasks in 2025, up from 26% in 2024, a 65% jump in one year [5]. At the enterprise level, 78% of companies now use AI in recruitment, representing 189% growth since 2022 [5].

27% of organizations have redefined job roles or skills because of AI in the past 12 months. Another 24% have redeployed employees to new roles due to technology-related redundancy, and 10% have replaced some employees with AI or automation [13].

Gartner predicts that by 2027, 75% of hiring processes will include certifications and tests for workplace AI proficiency [14]. Only 26% of job applicants trust AI to evaluate them fairly during the hiring process [15].

CHROs project a 327% growth in agentic AI adoption by 2027. Right now, 48% of large businesses, 25% of midsized firms, and just 4% of small businesses use agentic AI [13].

Employee Benefits and Compensation Statistics

Compensation growth slowed from its post-pandemic peak. Benefits costs keep rising, and GLP-1 drug coverage has emerged as a new line item in employer health plans.

Total employer compensation costs averaged $48.78 per hour for civilian workers in Q4 2025. That breaks down to $33.45 in wages and salaries plus $15.33 in benefits. Benefits account for roughly 29.9% of total compensation for private industry [16].

Compensation costs for civilian workers increased 3.4% for the 12-month period ending December 2025 [17]. Employers delivered an average merit increase of 3.2% in 2025, falling short of the 3.3% they projected. 31% of employers anticipate lower salary increase budgets going forward [18].

97% of employers offer health coverage. 88% of HR leaders rate healthcare as very or extremely important, and 23% of employers now cover GLP-1 drugs for type 2 diabetes and weight management [9].

Employee Wellbeing and Mental Health Statistics

Burnout and mental health challenges continue to affect the majority of the workforce. Younger workers report the highest rates of persistent stress, and fewer employers are running structured wellness programs than five years ago.

76% of U.S. workers report some level of burnout, with 53% experiencing moderate to severe levels [19]. 84% of employees faced at least one mental health challenge in the past year, including stress, burnout, or low motivation [20].

Workplace stress accounts for 40% of employee turnover in the U.S. [19]. 40% of Gen Z workers and 34% of Millennials say they feel stressed or anxious all or most of the time. Top drivers include long working hours (48%), lack of recognition (48%), and toxic workplace cultures (44-45%) [21].

Fewer than 6 in 10 Gen Z workers (52%) and Millennials (58%) rate their mental well-being as good or very good [21]. Companies that invest in workplace wellness see an average $3.80 return for every dollar spent, through reduced absenteeism and lower healthcare costs [22].

Just 39% of employers offer structured wellness programs in 2025, down from 53% in 2021 [9].

Learning and Development Statistics

The skills gap is widening, and both employers and employees know it. Training spend is climbing, AI literacy has become a priority, and most organizations now consider upskilling cheaper than hiring externally.

U.S. corporations spend close to $98 billion annually on workforce training. Organizations projected an 11.7% increase in training spend for 2025, with 13.3% growth for leadership development [23].

59% of the global workforce will require reskilling or upskilling by 2030, with 11% (over 120 million workers) unlikely to get the training they need [24]. Employers expect 39% of workers’ core skills to change by 2030, and 85% of employers plan to prioritize upskilling their workforce [24].

80% of workers want to learn more about using AI in their profession. 71% of L&D professionals are already exploring, experimenting with, or integrating AI into their work [25].

89% of organizations say upskilling is more cost-effective than hiring new talent [26]. 50% of the workforce has completed training through L&D initiatives, up from 41% in 2023 [24].

Workforce Demographics and Trends

The workforce is getting younger, less interested in traditional career ladders, and more worried about financial security. AI is part of daily work for most younger employees, but anxiety about its long-term impact runs high.

U.S. unemployment sat at 4.3% in March 2026, with a labor force participation rate of 61.9%. Nonfarm payroll employment grew by 178,000 that month [27].

Millennials and Gen Z are projected to make up roughly 74% of the global workforce by 2030 (about 35% Millennials, 30% Gen Z) [28]. Only 6% of Gen Z and Millennial workers say their primary career goal is reaching a leadership position [21].

57% of Gen Z and 56% of Millennials use generative AI daily in their work. But nearly two-thirds worry AI will eliminate jobs, and 61% worry it will make it harder for younger workers to enter the workforce [21].

48% of Gen Z and 46% of Millennials say they don’t feel financially secure, up from 30% and 32% the prior year [21]. Only 47% of CHROs say their organizational culture drives employee performance today [29].

What These Numbers Mean Going Forward

The throughline across all of these categories is clear. Organizations that invest in their people through engagement, flexibility, development, and wellbeing consistently outperform those that don’t. The gap between what employees need and what most companies deliver keeps growing.

For HR leaders building a case for investment, the data is here. For anyone benchmarking against industry averages, use these numbers as a starting point and dig into the source reports linked throughout for deeper context.