Widest gap
Media & Entertainment
67
Media & Entertainment has the widest Change-Response Gap on the Index this month.
THE HYDER INDEX · JUNE 2026
59
Narrow Gapup 1 vs May
Industries are changing 1.5x faster than companies are responding.
Companies are keeping up with about 70% of the change around them.
The Hyder Index measures the Change-Response Gap: how fast industries are changing versus how fast companies are responding. 50 means they are even. Higher means the gap is wider. How we measure it →
Data window: May 1-31, 2026. Published July 7, 2026.
Updated the first Tuesday of every month. Next edition: November 3.
Biggest move
HR & Future of Work and Energy & Utilities and Transportation & Logistics and Retail & CPG and Hospitality & Travel
▲ 1
Each moved 1 points.
Keeping pace
2 industries
Financial Services & FinTech, Hospitality & Travel
What changed this month
This edition was published together with July's on July 7, and its scores are based on May signal data. The Hyder Index rose to 59. Five industries each widened by 1 point, the other ten held, and no industry changed zones. Most of the pressure came from the physical economy.
A fuel shock hit Transportation & Logistics and Hospitality & Travel. Data center power demand pushed Energy & Utilities. Heavy May tech layoffs pushed HR & Future of Work. Retail & CPG moved as shoppers turned to AI for product advice. Hospitality was the only industry where response rose, and it still keeps pace with change.
Which industries are furthest behind?
Each industry gets a score from 0 to 100. 50 means companies are keeping pace with the change around them. Higher means change is winning.
0-50 Keeping Pace 51-59 Narrow Gap 60-69 Significant Gap 70-100 Critical Gap
Media & Entertainment
67
Significant Gap
Media & Entertainment held at 67, the widest gap on the Index. Creator and AI signals stayed high, and company response did not change. Response here moves at less than half the pace of change.
Change
67
Response
32
Keeping up
50%
Delta
0
Healthcare & MedTech
66
Significant Gap
Healthcare & MedTech held at 66, the second-widest gap on the Index. No new evidence moved any signal this month. Response still trails change by a wide margin.
Change
65
Response
33
Keeping up
50%
Delta
0
Technology & AI
65
Significant Gap
Technology & AI held at 65. The AI chipmaker Cerebras had a strong stock market debut in May, which confirmed heavy investor money in AI but did not move the score. Change still runs well ahead of response here.
Change
78
Response
47
Keeping up
60%
Delta
0
Legal & Professional Services
64
Significant Gap
Legal & Professional Services held at 64. There was no meaningful change this month. It stays in the Significant Gap zone, tied with Education & EdTech.
Change
56
Response
27
Keeping up
50%
Delta
0
Education & EdTech
64
Significant Gap
Education & EdTech held at 64 through the academic off-season. No new evidence moved its signals. Its response score of 21 is still the lowest on the Index.
Change
49
Response
21
Keeping up
45%
Delta
0
HR & Future of Work
63
Significant Gap
HR & Future of Work rose 1 point to 63. May was the heaviest month of tech job cuts so far this year, including layoffs at Meta, the Facebook parent. Companies are cutting and moving people toward AI at the same time, while the industry's response held still.
Change
64
Response
38
Keeping up
60%
Delta
+1
Real Estate & Construction
62
Significant Gap
Real Estate & Construction held at 62. There was no meaningful change this month. Response here is still less than half the pace of change.
Change
45
Response
22
Keeping up
50%
Delta
0
Energy & Utilities
61
Significant Gap
Energy & Utilities rose 1 point to 61. Goldman Sachs, the investment bank, projected in May that US data center power demand will more than double, with reliability risks for some regional grids. Demand is rising while the industry's response held still.
Change
65
Response
44
Keeping up
70%
Delta
+1
Direct Sales & Franchising
59
Narrow Gap
Direct Sales & Franchising held at 59. There was no meaningful change this month. It sits at the top of the Narrow Gap zone, right at the edge of a Significant Gap.
Change
48
Response
30
Keeping up
65%
Delta
0
Insurance
58
Narrow Gap
Insurance held at 58. No signal moved this month. It stays in the Narrow Gap zone, where change runs a little ahead of response.
Change
57
Response
40
Keeping up
70%
Delta
0
Manufacturing & Industrial
55
Narrow Gap
Manufacturing & Industrial held at 55. There was no meaningful change this month. It stays in the Narrow Gap zone.
Change
52
Response
41
Keeping up
80%
Delta
0
Transportation & Logistics
54
Narrow Gap
Transportation & Logistics rose 1 point to 54. Jet fuel prices spiked after the Iran conflict, which changed the cost of moving both freight and passengers. The shock came from outside the industry, and company response did not change.
Change
46
Response
38
Keeping up
85%
Delta
+1
Retail & CPG
52
Narrow Gap
Retail & CPG rose 1 point to 52. Reports in May said most consumers now use generative AI instead of search for product ideas. Amazon, the online retailer, also folded its Rufus assistant into Alexa for Shopping. Shopping habits are moving faster than retailers are responding.
Change
53
Response
48
Keeping up
90%
Delta
+1
Financial Services & FinTech
46
Keeping Pace
Financial Services & FinTech held at 46, in the Keeping Pace zone. Earlier AI restructurings were already counted, so nothing new moved the score. Its response score of 58 is the highest on the Index.
Change
50
Response
58
Keeping up
100%
Delta
0
Hospitality & Travel
44
Keeping Pace
Hospitality & Travel rose 1 point to 44 and still keeps pace. A fuel shock, a split consumer, and World Cup demand shifts pushed change up. Response rose too, just not as fast as change.
Change
37
Response
48
Keeping up
100%
Delta
+1
June in two stories
Hospitality & Travel still keeps pace as change speeds up
44Keeping Pace
Hospitality & Travel rose 1 point to 44 and stayed in the Keeping Pace zone. It still has the narrowest gap on the Index. Three forces pushed its change side up in May. Jet fuel prices spiked after the Iran conflict. Consumer spending split further, with some travelers cutting back and others spending more. The World Cup, then weeks away, began to shift where travel demand would land.
Companies in the industry responded, and the response score rose 2 points. Change rose faster, by 4 points, so the gap widened slightly. Hospitality's response did not fall. The world around it just sped up. It and Financial Services & FinTech are the only industries still keeping pace with change.
HR & Future of Work widens as May tech layoffs pile up
63Significant Gap
HR & Future of Work rose 1 point to 63, in the Significant Gap zone. Employers announced 38,242 tech job cuts in May, the heaviest month of the year so far. Meta, the Facebook parent, laid off 8,000 people on May 20. It also reassigned 7,000 employees to AI work. Cisco, the networking company, cut 4,000 jobs and cited AI. Intuit, the TurboTax maker, cut roughly 3,000.
Companies are cutting jobs and moving people toward AI at the same time. HR's response score did not move, so the change side alone widened the gap. HR & Future of Work now has the sixth-widest gap on the Index.
What moved the numbers this month
Six observable signals of change from the May data window, one per signal, across the economy.
58% of consumers have replaced traditional search with generative AI for product recommendations, according to reports in May. Amazon, the online retailer, folded its Rufus shopping assistant into Alexa for Shopping in May.
Employers announced 38,242 tech job cuts in May, the heaviest month of the year so far. Meta, the Facebook parent, laid off 8,000 people on May 20. It also reassigned 7,000 employees to AI work. Cisco, the networking company, cut 4,000 jobs and cited AI. Intuit, the TurboTax maker, cut roughly 3,000.
Cerebras, the AI chipmaker, went public on May 14 at $185 a share. The stock opened at $350. It closed its first day up 68%, for a $95B market value. The debut opened a run of large AI stock listings. It followed a first quarter in which global venture funding reached $330.9B. AI drew more than 80% of that money.
Colorado replaced its original AI law before its provisions took effect, and the revised law takes effect at the start of 2027.
The K-shaped consumer hardened, with spending splitting between people cutting back and people spending more. Only 45% of US travelers planned a paid-lodging vacation, a six-year low, according to survey data. Travelers who are still going raised their budgets 17%. Their average budget for their longest trip reached $4,069.
Goldman Sachs, the investment bank, projected on May 20 that US data center power demand will more than double by 2027. It put demand at 31 GW in 2025. It projects 66 GW in 2027. The bank flagged grid reliability risks in the Mid-Atlantic, Mid-Continent, and Northwest. The limit on AI is shifting from chips to electricity.
The Read
The number that matters this month is small. Only two industries still keep pace with change.
Hospitality & Travel has been the Index's proof that an industry can respond as fast as its world changes. That proof held in June, but it got harder. A fuel shock, a split consumer, and a World Cup on the doorstep pushed its change score up. Hospitality's response did not fall. It rose, and the world still sped up faster.
That is the pattern under the Index's small rise. The Change-Response Gap is moving toward industries that touch the physical world. Technology & AI held at 65. Energy ticked up because the grid math got worse. Transportation ticked up because fuel repriced fast. HR & Future of Work rose because May was the heaviest layoff month of the year so far.
The misread of the month
The misread is the small move. A 1-point rise can look like calm. The average blends a technology industry that held steady with a physical economy that is just starting to feel the pressure. Under the calm surface, five industries moved, and every one of them widened.
The window
The window is still open. No industry is in the Critical Gap zone. Hospitality shows how an industry stays ahead, because seasons and competition force it to adapt fast. But its margin is shrinking. This month, its change rose twice as fast as its response.
What to do with this
Run the Hospitality test on your own company. Ask whether your response would be enough at the current pace of change, even if it were the best in your industry. For most industries, the answer is already no. Thirteen of fifteen industries have a gap wider than even.
Keeping pace is still possible. It takes a response that rises as fast as change does.
Per the Hyder Index, the June 2026 reading is 59, and industries are changing 1.5x faster than companies are responding.
The two independent reviewers' ratings differed by 0.15 points on average on the 0 to 5 scale.
Get the Hyder Index the morning it publishes.
One email a month. The Hyder Index, the movers, and what to do about it.
Journalist early access.
Get the edition 24 hours early, with citation language and data links ready to use.