Interactive Brokers Chief Strategist Steve Sosnick discusses the December jobs report, Fed rate-cutting issues and market reaction in ‘The Claman Countdown.’
Despite a highly competitive job market, demand remains strong for healthcare workers, essential services, infrastructure-related fields, and other skill-based jobs, according to a recent Monster report.
Monster’s 2026 Job Market Outlook, based on a full year of 2025 job postings and job seeker data, looked at the labor market based on various focuses to understand where the most in-demand work will be in 2026, so that job seekers can be more targeted as they search for roles.
“The labor market of 2026 is defined less by broad growth or decline and more by fragmentation,” Monster careers expert Vicki Salemi wrote in the report, adding that “recruitment demand is concentrated in sectors related to key services, public investment, and specialized skills, while other areas continue to slow or undergo structural change.”
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Demand remains strong for workers in health care, critical services. (Getty)
Helping job seekers understand “where demand is structurally supported, rather than temporarily peaking, can mean the difference between chasing vacancies and building a solid career path,” Salemi continued.
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Overall, healthcare is still the most powerful hiring engine, according to the Monster report. The most in-demand roles in that field include registered nurse, physical therapist, respiratory therapist, occupational therapist, speech-language therapist, clinical social worker and licensed professional counselor, according to the report.
The report also highlighted that skills-based, skilled and manual jobs continue to outpace white-collar support roles because they “address ongoing, real-world needs that cannot be easily fixed or reversed,” Salemi said.
Overall, healthcare is still the most powerful hiring engine, according to the Monster report. (Brian Krista/The Baltimore Sun/Tribune News Service via Getty Images)
There is even technological change in infrastructure, performance and stability instead of speculative growth, he said.
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Here are the jobs that are most in demand:
Exchange of Skills and Technical Services
(Functional technical skills with a strong need for replacement and maintenance)
- Automotive technician / mechanic
- Electrical technician
- Maintenance technician
Transportation, Equipment and Essential Services
(In-person, proven roles supporting supply chain and emergency response)
- Logistics specialist
- Truck driver on the road
- emergency medical technician (EMT)
- Delivery person
The report also highlighted that skill-based, certified and manual occupations continue to outpace white-collar support roles. (Getty Images)
Technology and Data
(Directed technical roles directly related to quality, performance, and data infrastructure)
- Quality assurance engineer
- Data engineer
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Health, Health and Social Care
(Preventive care, health services, and community-facing roles are expanding)
- A dentist
- Nutritionist
- A masseuse
- Personal trainer
