US companies hire about nine product managers for every ten who leave
Since 2023, US employers have made about 0.9 outside product manager hires for every PM who left, down from 1.15 in 2022, according to Live Data Technologies data. AI PM roles are the exception.
By Alex Hamilton, Insights · Published Oct 2026 · Data through April 2026
PM hiring hasn't kept pace with exits since 2023
- Hires per exit: 1.15 in 2022, 0.87 in 2023, 0.89 in 2024 and 0.89 in 2025.
- Leaving out the three biggest PM employers (Amazon, Capital One and Google) moves the ratio by no more than 0.03 in any year.
- AI PM roles still gain more people than they lose: 1.31 hires per exit in 2025, down from 1.82 in 2022. AI or ML titles went from 2.0% of PM hires in 2022 to 6.3% in 2025.
The biggest employers are moving in different directions
US PM hiring fell 5% in the year to April 2026. The 25 biggest PM employers make about 1 in 7 outside PM hires, and from January to April 2026 their hiring fell 21% against the same months of 2025, while every other employer fell 10.5%. Amazon accounts for about 40% of that drop.
| Employer | Share of US PM hires, year to Apr 2026 (%) | Change vs prior 12 months | Jan to Apr 2026 vs 2025 |
|---|---|---|---|
| Amazon | 1.7 | -23% | -65% |
| Capital One | 1.5 | +8% | 0% |
| 1.2 | +6% | -1% | |
| Microsoft | 1.0 | -28% | +20% |
| JPMorgan Chase | 0.8 | +12% | +77% |
| Meta | 0.7 | -35% | -66% |
| Salesforce | 0.5 | +19% | 0% |
| Walmart | 0.4 | -55% | -77% |
| Adobe | 0.4 | +22% | +39% |
| PayPal | 0.4 | -12% | -21% |
| All US employers | 100 | -5% | -12% |
January to April figures for single companies rest on small numbers and can swing a lot from one period to the next.
How we counted
People based in the US with a product manager title, from associate PM to chief product officer. Project, program and product marketing managers, product owners and designers are left out. AI PM means AI, ML, GenAI or LLM in the PM title, with no adjustment for false matches. A hire is someone starting a PM role at an employer they did not work for before. An exit is someone leaving a PM role at their employer. Promotions and internal moves count as neither, so a ratio below one does not by itself mean there are fewer PM jobs. Employers are counted at the parent company, so AWS sits in Amazon and YouTube in Google. The yearly trend stops at 2025 because exits for recent months are still being recorded, which makes 2026 read high. The fourth quarter is the weakest every year, so compare years rather than quarters. This is not job postings, pay or remote work. Counts are people Live Data tracks.
Key figures
US product manager hires per exit: 1.15 (2022), 0.87 (2023), 0.89 (2024), 0.89 (2025). AI or ML PM roles: 1.82 (2022), 1.31 (2025); share of PM hires 2.0% to 6.3%. All US PM hires fell 5% in May 2025 to April 2026 against the 12 months before, and 12% in January to April 2026 against January to April 2025. Cite as: Live Data Technologies, US product manager hiring 2022 to 2026, livedatatech.com/pm-hiring-2026.
Where it was used
Product Growth, Oct 2026.
Want this cut for your own companies or your story?