Methodology

What the index measures

Each monthly edition is computed from every job posting published on Tradesppl during that calendar month (by posting date, UTC). We report the number of new postings by trade, advertised pay where postings disclose it, pay-disclosure rates, hiring activity by state and province, and the employment-type mix. The index reflects activity on our board — it is a consistent monthly sample of trades hiring, not a census of the entire labor market.

Data sources

Postings come from two places: jobs posted directly on Tradesppl by employers, and jobs sourced from the job feeds we aggregate (in August 2026, 7 direct and 1,390 aggregated of 1,397 total). Every edition discloses this split. Aggregated feeds skew toward employers who advertise on major boards; direct postings skew toward smaller trades businesses.

Trade classification

Postings are tagged by trade at ingestion. A posting carrying more than one trade tag is counted once, under its most specific trade, so trade counts never double-count a listing. Postings that match none of the tracked trades (about 7% in the latest edition — general labor, warehouse, and mixed roles) are included in totals but not in per-trade tables.

Pay figures

Pay statistics use only postings that disclose a pay figure — we never estimate or impute pay. Where a posting gives a range we use the midpoint; hourly rates are annualized at 2,080 hours/year, weekly at 52 weeks, monthly at 12 months. US and Canadian figures are reported separately in their own currencies and are never averaged together. Any trade-country cell with fewer than 8 disclosing postings is withheld rather than reported on a thin sample. We report medians and 25th–75th percentile ranges, which resist distortion by outlier postings.

Known limitations

• Advertised pay is what employers offer in postings, which can differ from wages actually paid. For settled-wage statistics, see the BLS Occupational Employment and Wage Statistics and Statistics Canada.
• Monthly posting volume varies with our feed coverage as well as with the labor market; treat cross-month comparisons as directional until a longer series accumulates.
• Regional counts reflect where postings are located, not where workers live; multi-location postings count under their primary location.
• Correction, August 2026 baseline: after publishing the first edition we found that one aggregator feed attaches its own machine-estimated salary to most of its US postings without distinguishing it from advertised pay (in our sampling, roughly 90% of that feed's US salary values are estimates). The August US pay figures therefore mix advertised and feed-estimated pay. From September 2026 onward, estimated figures are dropped at ingestion and all pay statistics are employer-advertised only. Canadian figures were not affected.

Citing the index

The index is free to cite for any purpose with attribution to Tradesppl and a link to tradesppl.com/hiring-index. For questions about the data or custom cuts, use our contact page.