Job advertisements, Indeed's ranking: boom in the restaurant industry

Once upon a time, job advertisements could be found everywhere, mostly through newspapers and notice boards. But with the advent of the internet, the search for a job has also shifted to the internet, especially on dedicated sites. The online platform Indeed has taken a snapshot of the phenomenon - with the help of the Hiring Lab Data Portal database - collecting information for the first half of 2026, recording the performance of the countries involved.

After the Christmas period, advertisements rose rapidly, registering +3% in Italia and +2% in Spain in January. This figure was also confirmed in March 2026, where Italy and Spain exceeded December's levels by 2% and 4% respectively. France, the Netherlands and Great Britain also follow the same trend. On a seasonally adjusted basis, Italy scores +60% over the pre-pandemic level, while Spain scores +58%.

Going against the tide, however, is Germany, where since the beginning of the year the labour market has taken a different path, where employers are holding back on hiring despite the very healthy German economy. In March job ads stood at around 4 per cent, below the levels of the beginning of December.

Searches for jobs grow by 38% and applications rise to 25%. In Indeed's list for the first quarter of 2026, the restaurant category with the highest share in the total number of advertisements in Italy ranks first, with 12.55%.

Next is the sales sector, which takes 12.02%. With a clear gap, in third place are advertisements dedicated to software development with 7.41%. Outside the top three are other types of jobs ranging from managerial roles to customer service. Closing the ranking are the advertisements dedicated to accounting, which register 2.39%.