In March, 2,542,500 of the 3,733,200 unduplicated online advertised vacancies were new ads that did not appear in February, while the remainders are reposted ads from the previous month. In March, the number of total online advertised vacancies declined 5 percent and new ads dropped 8 percent from February reflecting the fact that there were fewer days during the reference period, as well as the continued slowing in the labor market. Year-over-year (March'07 — March'08) growth rates of total ads fell 0.6 percent while new ads were up 2 percent, respectively.
The monthly national decrease in advertised vacancies between February and March '08 reflected deterioration in ads in all nine Census regions. However, the year-over-year (March '07 — March '08) growth rates in six of the nine Census regions continued to show a gain in labor demand, albeit the growth rate was slower than the previous year. Three exceptions to this were the New England, South Atlantic and Pacific regions which declined by 1 percent, 4 percent and 14 percent, respectively.
The number of advertised vacancies declined from March 2007 to March 2008 in 14 states (up from 12 states in February 2008). Almost all the states (42) experienced a slowing in the year-over-year growth rate. Most of these same states also experienced a slowing in their year-over-year growth rate of employment during the last year. Based on the decline in advertised vacancies, employment growth will likely continue to decline in the months ahead.
States where labor demand continues to be high include Alaska, Nevada and Delaware. Alaska posted 4.65 online advertised vacancies for every 100 persons in the state labor force, the highest rate in the nation. Alaska has held the number one position for seven months in a row. Nevada (4.38) and Delaware (4.26) were close behind in the number of advertised vacancies when adjusted for the size of the state labor force. Half of the top 10 states with the highest ads rate are west of the Mississippi and in addition to Alaska and Nevada include Arizona (4.17), Colorado (4.04) and Washington (3.73). The other half of the top ten are along the Eastern seaboard.
Online advertised vacancies in California, the state with the largest labor force in the nation, totaled 512,000 in March. The ad volume in California dropped 118,000 or 19 percent below the March 2007 level. The volume of online advertised vacancies in Florida (217,100) was 15 percent below the March '07 level while the volume in Texas (336,900) was up 8 percent and ads in New York (275,800) were up slightly (1.4 percent).
"Although one cannot infer that the occupation or geographic location of unemployed persons matches the occupation or geographic location of the vacancies, looking at the number of unemployed in relation to the number of advertised vacancies provides an indication of available job opportunities for the unemployed," said Levanon. Using the latest unemployment data available from the U.S. Bureau of Labor Statistics (BLS) and computing the supply/demand ratio (unemployed/advertised vacancies), the states with the most favorable (e.g., lowest) supply/demand rates included Maryland (0.90), Arizona (0.95), Delaware (0.98) and Utah (0.99). This month, there were four states with a supply/demand rate less than 1.0. This is up from last month, when three states had a supply/demand rate less than 1.0, yet it is still lower than the peak of 11 states with a supply/demand rate less than 1.0 in July 2007. For the nation as a whole, the comparable supply/demand rate for February was 2.45, indicating that for every two unemployed people looking for work there was only one online advertised vacancy.
States where the number of unemployed persons looking for work significantly exceeded the number of online advertised vacancies included Arkansas (3.07), Indiana (3.20), Kentucky (3.60), Michigan (4.59) and Mississippi (4.86).
"Many jobs in high demand are also, on average, among the highest paying occupations," said Levanon. Healthcare practitioners (260,400) and Management (228,900) are the two occupations with the most number of ads posted online. According to the latest federal hourly wage data, wages average about $30 for healthcare practitioners and above $44 an hour for management. Also in high demand are occupations in computer and mathematical (203,900), business and financial operations (197,400) and office and administrative support (194,400).
The deterioration in the job market in some of the nation's largest metro area is reflected by fewer metro areas posting a supply/demand rate that is less than one. Since July 2007, the number of metro areas with a supply/demand rate of less than one has fallen from 23 areas to only three areas. Among the large metro areas for which data is reported separately, Salt Lake City, Austin, and Washington, D.C. were the only three where the number of advertised vacancies are plentiful in relation to the number of unemployed (i.e. supply/demand rate <1).
The top metro areas in March as measured by most advertised vacancies per 100 persons in the local labor force included Austin (5.75), Milwaukee (5.62), San Jose (5.44), San Francisco (5.14) and Washington D.C. (4.87).
