Online Job Marketplace Statistics 2026: Revenue, Users and AI Work

Recruit Holdings’ HR Technology segment grew revenue 20.9% to $2.85 billion in Q1 FY2026, while Fiverr’s revenue fell 10.0% to $97.8 million in the second quarter of 2026. Across these online job marketplace statistics, platforms that sell employers access to job seekers are growing while freelance task marketplaces shrink.

Upwork’s gross services volume (GSV) tells the same story, as Upwork’s GSV was $966.4 million, down 3.6% year over year, and Fiverr’s annual active buyers declined 21.9% to 2.7 million. On the demand side, Indeed Hiring Lab data show Indeed’s job postings index stood at 103.5, about 3% above the pre-pandemic level in September 2026, and the US Bureau of Labor Statistics reported US job openings were 7,079,000 in August. The online job marketplaces that charge employers are turning that demand into revenue.

Key Takeaways

• Recruit’s HR Technology US revenue increased 30.0% to a record $1.64 billion in Q1 FY2026, while the total number of US job postings on Indeed declined approximately 4% year over year in that April to June quarter.
• Fiverr’s annual spend per buyer rose 15.6% to $368 as annual active buyers fell 21.9%.
• Upwork’s GSV per active client of $5,230 increased 5%, with 763,000 active clients, or 33,000 fewer than a year earlier.
• According to Microsoft, LinkedIn revenue increased 12%, or 10% in constant currency, in the quarter ended June 30, 2026.
• Indeed’s job postings grew 0.7% year over year as of September 2026, the first positive reading in almost four years.
• AI-related postings on Indeed have climbed to 6.3%, well past their prior peak of 3.3% in 2022.

Editor’s Choice

• Recruit HR Technology revenue: $2.85 billion in Q1 FY2026, up 20.9%.
• Upwork GSV: $966.4 million in the second quarter of 2026.
• ZipRecruiter paying employers: 70,721 Quarterly Paid Employers in Q2 2026, up 7%.
• Fiverr annual spend per buyer: $368 as of June 30, 2026.
• US job openings: 7,079,000 in August 2026.
• Online gig workers worldwide (World Bank, 2023): 154 million to 435 million.

Online Job Marketplace Statistics at a Glance

• Recruit’s HR Technology US revenue comprises revenue from Sponsored Jobs, which consists of paid job ads like Standard and Premium Sponsored Jobs, plus products including Smart Screening and Indeed Flex.
• ZipRecruiter, a leading online employment marketplace, reported quarterly revenue of $118.1 million for the quarter ended June 30, 2026.
• Fiverr’s marketplace take rate was 28.0% for the twelve months ended June 30, 2026, compared with 27.6% a year earlier.
• Freelancer Limited’s group revenue declined 12.1% to A$23.9 million for the six months ended June 30, 2026.

Source: Recruit Holdings, Microsoft, ZipRecruiter, Upwork, Fiverr and Freelancer Limited results, 2026

About This Data

Compiled from 16 sources: 8 company earnings releases, filings and call transcripts, 4 Indeed Hiring Lab labor market snapshots, 1 US Bureau of Labor Statistics release, 2 World Bank publications and 1 Upwork research release, dated September 2023 to September 2026. Each platform reports on its own definitions and calendar, and the World Bank estimate is older data. Figures are reviewed as new results arrive.

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Online Job Platform Revenue Growth by Company

• Recruit’s HR Technology revenue in USD rose 20.9% to $2.85 billion, exceeding initial expectations.
• LinkedIn revenue increased 12%, or 10% in constant currency.
• ZipRecruiter revenue grew 5% year over year, coming in $6 million above the midpoint of guidance.
• Upwork revenue decreased 2% year over year to $191.7 million, a smaller drop than the 3.6% fall in its gross services volume.
• Fiverr’s marketplace revenue declined 15.5% to $63.1 million, a steeper fall than the 10.0% drop in total revenue.
• Freelancer Limited’s gross profit declined 10.4% to A$20.9 million.
• Among these online job marketplaces, the three that grew sell employers access to job seekers, and the three that shrank take a cut of freelance project spend.

Recent Developments

• September 29, 2026: The US Bureau of Labor Statistics reported that job openings were little changed at 7,079,000 in August and hires changed little at 5,192,000.
• September 2026: Indeed’s job postings showed 0.7% year-over-year growth, the first positive reading in almost four years.
• August 10, 2026: Upwork reported second-quarter revenue of $191.7 million and full-year 2026 revenue guidance of $730 million to $750 million.
• August 7, 2026: Recruit Holdings revised its FY2026 HR Technology revenue outlook upward to $11.48 billion, an increase of 18.7%.
• August 5, 2026: ZipRecruiter reported quarterly revenue of $118.1 million, up 5% year over year.
• July 29, 2026: Fiverr revised its FY 2026 revenue guidance to $356 million to $372 million.

Indeed and Recruit HR Technology Statistics

• Recruit’s HR Technology US revenue increased 30.0% to $1.64 billion, a new quarterly record, with US Average Revenue per Job (ARPJ) growth of 35%.
• The previous record was $1.61 billion in Q1 FY2022.
• Europe & Others revenue increased 28.5% to $0.61 billion.
• Japan revenue increased 6.7% to ¥96.3 billion.
• The FY2026 segment revenue outlook was revised upward for all three regions to $11.48 billion, an increase of 18.7%.
• The US revenue outlook of $6.65 billion, up 25.1%, assumes US ARPJ growth of 30% in FY2026.

How does Indeed make money from job postings?

US ARPJ is calculated by dividing HR Technology revenue in the US by the total number of US job postings on Indeed, and that revenue comes from Sponsored Jobs, which consists of paid job ads, as well as other products and services. Q1 growth was driven by further monetization development led by the Premium Sponsored Jobs package.

Indeed Job Postings Index Statistics

• Indeed’s Job Postings Index (JPI) stood at 103.5 as of September 2026, its highest level since late March and about 3% above the pre-pandemic level.
• New postings registered 94.0 on September 18, about 6% below the pre-pandemic level.
• The JPI registered 1.5% monthly growth as of September 18.
• Postings on Indeed for Software Development roles stood at 74.4, up from a low of 61.1 in May 2025.
• Job openings per unemployed worker sat at 1.0, below the 2019 level of roughly 1.2.
• In May 2026, the JPI slid 2.2%, and its year-over-year change was -4.8%.

Demand for software development roles has rebounded over the past year, but postings remain well below their February 2020 level, so the hiring recovery trails the job cuts tracked in our software engineer layoff statistics.

Why it matters: Recruit measures the denominator of US ARPJ, the total number of US job postings, with the Indeed Hiring Lab US Job Postings Index. A postings index that turns positive gives Indeed more listings to price, on top of the higher price per listing that carried its US revenue this year.

ZipRecruiter Statistics

• ZipRecruiter ended Q2 2026 with 70,721 Quarterly Paid Employers, up 7% year over year and 12% sequentially.
• Gross margin was 89%.
• Net income was $43.4 million, a net income margin of 37%.
• Third-quarter 2026 revenue guidance is $118 million to $124 million.
• ZipRecruiter said it is leveraging AI to strengthen its active matchmaking between employers and job seekers.

Source: ZipRecruiter Q2 2026 earnings release and shareholder letter, August 2026

Key finding: ZipRecruiter said Revenue per Paid Employer fell primarily because of the increase in Quarterly Paid Employers, some of which only contributed revenue for a portion of the quarter. Unlike Indeed, ZipRecruiter grew this quarter by adding paying employers rather than by charging each one more.

Employers are ZipRecruiter’s paying customers, so its use of AI in recruitment centers on matching them with job seekers.

Upwork Marketplace Statistics

• Upwork had 763,000 active clients, 33,000 fewer than a year earlier.
• According to Upwork’s second-quarter results, GSV fell 3.6% year over year.
• Business Plus active clients grew 219% year over year, and for Upwork’s Business Plus offering for small and midsize businesses (SMB), 38% of active clients on Business Plus had their first Upwork spend on Business Plus.
• Adjusted EBITDA rose 12% while net income fell 22%.
• Upwork guided full-year 2026 revenue to $730 million to $750 million.
• Third-quarter 2026 revenue guidance is $176 million to $184 million.

Fiverr Marketplace Statistics

• Fiverr’s annual active buyers were 2.7 million as of June 30, 2026, compared with 3.4 million a year earlier.
• Annual spend per buyer reached $368, up from $318.
• Marketplace revenue fell to $63.1 million, while services revenue rose 2.0% to $34.6 million.
• Clients completing $1,000+ projects grew 13% year over year on a trailing twelve-month basis.
• Fiverr’s revised guidance reflects AI-related demand and traffic headwinds and persistent weakness across categories most exposed to AI automation.

By the numbers: Fiverr’s annual active buyers declined 21.9% to 2.7 million, while annual spend per buyer increased 15.6% to $368. Fewer buyers spending more each is the same shape Upwork reports, where GSV per active client rose as its client count fell.

AI Work on Online Job Marketplaces

• GSV from AI-related work on Upwork increased more than 22% year over year in Q2 2026.
• GSV from AI Strategy & Consulting grew over 50% year over year.
• Freelancers performing AI work on the Upwork Marketplace earn 34% more per hour than those not incorporating AI.
• Generative AI and creative production work saw 90% year-over-year growth in contract starts, while per-contract earnings declined 13%.

Hayden Brown, president and CEO of Upwork, said: “While lower-complexity work continues to shift toward automation, we are increasingly seeing what is emerging in its place: growing demand for high-value AI talent, more complex projects, and new categories of work across SMB and Enterprise.”

Freelancer Limited Marketplace Statistics

• Freelancer Limited’s group gross marketplace value (GMV) increased 30.9% to A$574.6 million, led by Escrow.com and Loadshift.
• Gross margin improved to 87.4%, and the group delivered EBITDA of A$1.1 million.
• Net loss after tax was A$2.1 million, after a A$2.4 million non-cash impairment of non-core digital assets.
• The group held A$17.9 million in cash at June 30, 2026 and remains debt-free.
• Freelancer marketplace gross revenue fell 23.2%.

Source: Freelancer Limited H1 FY26 results, July 2026

Online Gig Workers Worldwide

• The share of online gig workers in the global labor force ranges from 4.4 to 12.5%.
• Job postings on a large digital labor platform grew by 130% in sub-Saharan Africa, against 14% in North America, from 2016 to 2020.
• The estimate combined data science, proprietary firm databases and a global web survey in 17 countries in six regions.
• The World Bank’s survey-based approach suggests there are 132.5 million main gig workers, while its web data finds 154 million unique registered online gig workers.

Worth noting: According to the World Bank, its estimates are higher than others, partly because its methodology made a concerted effort to track gig workers on regional/local platforms that most literature has overlooked. The figures predate the AI shift now visible in platform filings, so treat them as a 2023 baseline.

How many online gig workers are there worldwide?

According to a 2023 World Bank estimate, the number of global online gig workers ranges from 154 million to 435 million, with 435 million an upper-bound estimate that counts those who engage in gig work as secondary or marginal workers.

US Freelance Workforce Statistics

• According to Upwork’s Future Workforce Index, skilled freelancers now represent 38% of US knowledge workers.
• The index is based on a survey of 2,400 US-based skilled workers conducted March to April 2026, with a margin of error of 2% at the 95% confidence level.
• Freelancers doing more complex work with AI saw earnings increase 45% year over year.
• AI-augmented professional services grew 72% in volume with earnings rising 22%.

US Job Openings, Hires and Separations

• In the Job Openings and Labor Turnover Survey (JOLTS), the number of job openings was little changed at 7,079,000 in August 2026.
• Hires changed little at 5,192,000, while total separations were 5,070,000.
• Quits were 3.1 million, and layoffs and discharges were 1.6 million.
• Health care and social assistance posted 1,359,000 openings in August 2026, down from 1,474,000 in July 2026.
• Information industry openings were 123,000 in August 2026, against 141,000 in August 2025.

The industry split shows where demand sits; the totals below show its direction. Total openings were 7,079,000 in August 2026, against 6,919,000 in August 2025.

Source: US Bureau of Labor Statistics, JOLTS Table A, seasonally adjusted, September 2026 release

Conclusion

Recruit’s HR Technology revenue rose 20.9% in the same June quarter that Fiverr’s annual active buyers fell 21.9%. Employers are still paying to reach candidates, and Indeed raised what it earns per US job posting, while freelance marketplaces are losing small transactional work and chasing larger projects instead.

Indeed’s job postings turned positive year over year for the first time in almost four years. If that holds, online job marketplace revenue at the job boards gains volume on top of pricing, and the next round of quarterly filings will show whether bigger tickets can offset the shrinking buyer counts at Upwork and Fiverr.