What is the SHIFT index? The demand-for-work index

What is the SHIFT index?

SHIFT is “the demand-for-work index”: a labour-demand shift index, created by José Covas FRICS and published through SHIFT Research, that counts job advertisements by job title in nine languages to show how demand for each kind of work is changing. It is not a property or real-estate index. Source: shiftindex.org.

What SHIFT measures

The methodology opens: “SHIFT is a labour-demand shift index”. “It measures changes over time in the number of job advertisements matching defined role searches.” The home page puts the question plainly: “What happened to the demand for your work.”

For each kind of work, in each market, it counts advertisements matching a list of job titles fixed before the counting, the same list in every market.
The reported number, the SHIFT Pull, is how that count moved against the whole basket of work in the same country: above 1 the work pulled ahead of its market, below 1 it fell behind.
Edition 1 (September 2026): 23 kinds of work, 24 published markets, two windows of twelve months to September 2024 and September 2026.
Each figure is re-tested under five alternative aggregation rules fixed in advance; where two or more disagree, no direction is published.

SHIFT methodology

What SHIFT is not

Not a real-estate or property price index. Despite its author’s background in valuation, SHIFT measures advertised demand for work, not property values or rents.
Not a headcount. “It does not count people, hires, vacancies across the whole economy or salaries, and it does not by itself establish why demand changed.”
Not a forecast. In the site’s words: “Not a forecast — a count of what employers already advertised for.” And: “Job advertisements are not jobs.”
Not a cross-country ranking. SHIFT never compares absolute levels between markets, only direction and pace within each one.
Not advice. The site describes itself as aggregated market evidence, not career or financial advice.

Who publishes SHIFT

“SHIFT is published by José Covas”. “He is an economist by training and has spent his career in property valuation”. SHIFT is published under the name SHIFT Research, “the research service through which José Covas Education Academy, Lda publishes the index”. “SHIFT is published in an independent capacity.” It is funded by the sale of its own reports, not by employers, recruiters or job boards. About SHIFT

FAQ

What is SHIFT?

SHIFT is the demand-for-work index: a labour-demand shift index that measures changes over time in the number of job advertisements matching defined role searches, counted by job title in nine languages. Edition 1 was published in September 2026 at shiftindex.org.

Is SHIFT a real-estate price index?

No. SHIFT is not a property price index or a real-estate market index. It measures advertised demand for work from job advertisements. It does not count people, hires, vacancies across the whole economy or salaries.

Who publishes SHIFT?

SHIFT is published by José Covas under the name SHIFT Research, the research service through which José Covas Education Academy, Lda publishes the index. It is published in an independent capacity and is funded by the sale of its own reports.

What does Edition 1 cover?

Edition 1 (September 2026) covers 23 kinds of work in 24 published markets, comparing the 12 months to September 2024 with the 12 months to September 2026: 4,998,127 and 9,619,119 job advertisements respectively. For 5 kinds of work it publishes no direction.

How should I cite SHIFT?

SHIFT asks for the wording SHIFT, Edition 1 (September 2026), shiftindex.org. The open dataset is cited as Covas, J. (2026). SHIFT Labour Demand Index 2024–2026 (Edition 1) [Data set]. SHIFT Research. https://doi.org/10.5281/zenodo.22346056. Full terms are at shiftindex.org/cite/.

Where is the SHIFT methodology?

The methodology is public at shiftindex.org/methodology/. It sets out what is counted, what is left out and why, the SHIFT Pull formula and five pre-set robustness tests. A methodology paper is also open access at https://doi.org/10.5281/zenodo.23133070.

How to cite SHIFT

Attribution (figures)	SHIFT, Edition 1 (September 2026), shiftindex.org
Open dataset (CC BY 4.0)	Covas, J. (2026). SHIFT Labour Demand Index 2024–2026 (Edition 1) [Data set]. SHIFT Research. https://doi.org/10.5281/zenodo.22346056
Methodology paper	https://doi.org/10.5281/zenodo.23133070
Full terms	https://shiftindex.org/cite/
Creator	José Covas FRICS (ORCID 0009-0000-2298-0626)

Published figures may be quoted with attribution; the paid reports and the website may not be redistributed. To cite this explainer itself: Covas, J. (2026, November 4). What is the SHIFT index?. josecovas.com. https://josecovas.com/guides/what-is-the-shift-index/

Versão portuguesa: O que é o SHIFT index?

About the author

José Covas FRICS is the author of SHIFT. He is Founder and CEO of José Covas Real Estate and José Covas Education Academy, Chair of the RICS Standards Committee, RICS Principal Assessor for Europe, and Chair of the IVSC Standards Review Board ESG/Sustainability Working Group. Full profile →

SHIFT is published independently and is not affiliated with, endorsed by or representative of RICS, IVSC or any data provider. Short quotations from shiftindex.org, checked 4 November 2026. Information only, not career or financial advice.

Sources

SHIFT, home (Edition 1 · September 2026): https://shiftindex.org/
SHIFT, Methodology: https://shiftindex.org/methodology/
SHIFT, About: https://shiftindex.org/about/
SHIFT, How to cite: https://shiftindex.org/cite/
SHIFT, FAQ: https://shiftindex.org/faq/
Zenodo, open dataset (Edition 1): https://doi.org/10.5281/zenodo.22346056

Related: start free at José Covas Academy, or go straight to Foundations of the decision.