Revelio Labs data appeared in several news stories over the past week. Most relied on basic workforce data to build their narratives, such as how many people a company employs or how many it is trying to hire.
- October jobs. Ahead of Friday’s jobs report, Newsquawk’s US market wrap on ZeroHedge cited the Revelio Labs employment estimate. It slowed to 26k jobs from 67k.
- DEI roles. A live blog on the jobs report looked at which workers are feeling a slower labor market. It cited our finding that US employers have cut more than 2,600 roles with “diversity” or “D.E.I.” in the job title or description since 2023.
- Collins Aerospace. The largest employer in Cedar Rapids, Iowa, announced layoffs. The Des Moines Register’s coverage on AOL added that Collins had 112 active job postings in Q1 2026, up 176.5% from a year earlier. The two figures cover different periods. Together they give a fuller picture of the workforce than the layoff number alone.
- David Jones. The 188-year-old Australian department store may close more than half its stores. Coverage in The Epoch Times and on MSN used our estimate of about 6,730 employees as of March. David Jones is privately owned and doesn’t publish a headcount, so the estimate shows readers roughly how many jobs the closures could affect.
- Fractional executives. Frontline Source Group launched a fractional executive division. The announcement cited our finding that fractional roles rose from 9 to 24 of every 1,000 new executive job postings over the last five years.
Why headcount keeps coming up
A store closure or a round of layoffs is hard to judge without knowing how big the workforce is. US public companies report their employee count in their annual 10-K, though that figure can be up to a year old. Private companies like David Jones don’t have to report one at all. Company websites, professional profiles, and job postings each fill part of the gap, and each has known blind spots.
Our employee counts are estimates. We start with profile data, then adjust for workers less likely to have a profile and for people who update their profiles late. Our guide on how to find how many employees a company has walks through each source, what it misses, and how we adjust for it.