Workforce Benchmarking Report: Hiring Trends & Talent Insights 2025

As technological advancements and economic uncertainty continue to shape economic trends, having a clear, data-backed understanding of the labor market is no longer optional — it’s a competitive necessity. Aura is proud to announce the release of our new annual Industry Benchmarking Report, a 120+ page deep dive into global hiring and workforce trends from the past year, which you can download for free.

The Industry Benchmarking Report was created to equip decision-makers across industries with actionable insights to compare their company’s workforce dynamics and hiring strategies against broader industry benchmarks. Whether you're in management consulting, private equity, investment management, or any other sector where strategic decision-making hinges on workforce intelligence, Aura’s benchmarking analysis delivers the clarity you need.

Download the full report or read on below for a summary of this year's findings.

Why This Report Matters in 2025

The world of work has entered a new phase. From AI adoption and evolving remote work models to increasing scrutiny on diversity and talent retention, organizations are grappling with dynamic changes in how they attract, manage, and retain talent. However, accessing high-quality, granular labor market data remains a persistent challenge.

That’s where Aura comes in. The latest Industry Benchmarking Report fills this crucial gap by offering deep, data-driven insights into workforce patterns across industries and geographies. By aggregating and analyzing millions of data points from publicly available sources and professional platforms, we present a nuanced, credible snapshot of the current talent landscape.

Aura’s report provides detailed metrics on a number of industries, including Technology, Finance & Investment, Professional Services, Retail & Consumer Goods, Healthcare, Education, Public Sector, Energy, Resources & Utilities, Advanced Manufacturing & Services, and Entertainment & Media.

What’s Inside the Full Report?

Aura’s report focuses on two major dimensions:

Hiring Trends – including job posting volumes, demand patterns by function and industry, AI-related roles, and the evolution of remote work.
Existing Workforce Characteristics – covering workforce contraction or growth, diversity representation, promotion trends, and employee exit rates.

Together, these themes offer a multidimensional view of how the labor market is evolving and how your organization compares to peers and industry averages.

Here are some of the key takeaways from the report:

Key Insights from Aura’s Annual Industry Benchmarking Report

Hiring slowdown across the board: Global job postings declined by approximately 16% compared to the previous year. This pullback reflects employer caution in light of ongoing macroeconomic instability and an increased focus on cost optimization.
AI hiring cooled: AI-related job postings dropped by 15% year-over-year, despite the media buzz. Demand is becoming more targeted, concentrated in specific roles and regions, as organizations shift from experimentation to practical implementation amid tighter budgets.
Remote work is waning: Remote job postings fell by nearly 20%, with a marked shift back to in-office and hybrid models. While January still showed strong remote hiring, demand steadily declined over the year, suggesting changing employer preferences and cultural recalibrations post-pandemic.
Contraction in active workforce: The global workforce shrank by around 4.15%, with notable cutbacks in large markets and participation drops in key industries. This trend highlights the continued impact of restructuring and labor market volatility.
Diversity held steady, but leadership gaps persist: Workforce gender diversity remained relatively balanced (44.4% female, 55.6% male). However, the share of women in leadership roles dipped to 30.8%, underscoring ongoing challenges in executive representation and mobility.
Fewer promotions, more volatility: Promotion activity decreased overall, with peaks observed in January and March. This points to more conservative internal advancement policies and a more challenging path for career growth in many firms.
Slight decline in exits: Global employee exits totaled around 56.5 million, a modest drop from the previous year. Exit rates were highest in early 2024 but dropped in Q3 and Q4 — likely due to fewer job opportunities and stronger retention initiatives.
Promotion gap for women remains concerning: While women continue to make up a sizable portion of the workforce, promotion trends for female employees were inconsistent and showed sharper declines toward the latter half of the year, emphasizing structural barriers in career progression.

How This Report Can Be Used

The latest annual Industry Benchmarking Report isn't just about numbers — it’s about enabling action. The insights are designed to support strategic decision-making in several key areas:

Strategic Planning & Advisory: Use the benchmarks to inform talent acquisition, workforce planning, and organizational transformation efforts, especially in advisory and consulting engagements.
Investment Strategy: Monitor hiring activity by sector and region to spot emerging growth opportunities or risks, helping you evaluate potential portfolio targets or areas for expansion.
Operational Optimization: Leverage data on contract types, remote work prevalence, and workforce trends to improve workforce structure, reduce turnover, and align with market realities.

And for those who want even more tailored insights, Aura can prepare custom company-level reports on request, allowing you to benchmark your exact organization against peers and competitors.

Telling the Story with Aura

Aura is the leading workforce intelligence platform for management consulting firms, private equity, hedge funds, and enterprises. Our unique position stems from our proprietary data infrastructure and ability to synthesize complex labor market information from a wide array of sources. Our platform offers unparalleled breadth and depth in workforce intelligence, trusted by professionals in some of the world’s most demanding and data-driven sectors.

Our new Industry Benchmarking Report for May of 2025 aims to share data and translate it into insight, helping leaders take confident, proactive steps toward growth and resilience.

Looking Ahead in 2025

As the labor market continues to evolve in response to shifting technologies, demographic changes, and economic pressures, staying informed is more important than ever. Aura is committed to helping organizations keep up and stay ahead with the tools and insights needed to thrive in an increasingly complex workforce environment.

We invite you to explore the full Industry Benchmarking Report and begin unlocking the value of workforce data for your organization. Whether you're planning your next acquisition, advising clients on strategic direction, or looking to improve internal workforce practices, Aura is here to help.

Download your free copy of the full 2024 Industry Benchmarking Report.

Schedule a call with our team to see how Aura can create reports and insights for your business.