NEW YORK, N.Y. — Fortune 500 companies generated $21 trillion in combined revenue for the most recent fiscal year, an increase of 5% from the previous year. During the same period, total profits for the companies rose to $2.1 trillion, representing a 12% increase from the prior year.

The overall market capitalization for the companies increased by 19%, reaching $55 trillion. Concurrently, total employment across the companies decreased for the second consecutive year to 30.5 million workers, a decline of 1%.

Companies within the group reduced their total workforce by 301,049 positions in the most recent fiscal year. While 22 companies departed the Fortune 500 ranking, they collectively employed 659,640 workers. Another 22 companies entered the ranking, collectively employing 317,414 workers.

Companies that remained on the ranking from 2025 to 2026 added 41,177 employees, resulting in a 0.1% employment increase for incumbent firms. The retail sector, which is the largest on the ranking and employs over 7 million workers, experienced a 0.9% headcount decrease. Employment in the technology sector decreased by 1% to 3.8 million workers, while the financial sector saw a 0.9% increase in employment, reaching 3.5 million workers.

The companies generated an average of $687,094 in revenue and $68,743 in profit per employee. Inflation-adjusted wages largely remained unchanged over the measured period. Lawrence Katz, an economics professor at Harvard University, said, "As companies are re-engineered to focus on AI agents as their main sort of workers, they may not end up having as large an employment imprint as traditional firms." He added, "Those factors have meant the sales and value-added have gone up dramatically more than employment for the largest firms."

No independent assessment was available for this report.