The gap between the number of unemployed and online advertised vacancies was just over 5.6 million in October. "With the November drop in labor demand, and an anticipated increase in the number of unemployed when the federal unemployment numbers for November are released on Friday, we expect that gap to widen even more," said Levanon. The effect of lower employer demand combined with increasing unemployment makes it more difficult for the unemployed to find jobs.
REGIONAL/STATE HIGHLIGHTS
* Texas advertised vacancies off 37,800 in November
* Impact of the financial industry shows up in key States
* Supply/Demand rate rises in California to over 3 unemployed for every advertised vacancy
In November, labor demand declined in the Northeast, the South and the West (Table A on pdf). The Midwest showed a modest increase, although the number of unemployed persons relative to the number of advertised vacancies (2.62 unemployed people for every advertised vacancy) continued to be the highest of the four areas of the country.
Among the larger states in the Northeast region, Pennsylvania posted the largest decline in labor demand (-19,900). Massachusetts, which has been essentially flat, dropped this month (-10,200). New York and New Jersey, where sizable declines in labor demand have already occurred, were down moderately in November (-3,900 and -300 respectively).
In the West, Colorado declined by 20,700 in November, after being relatively flat for most of this year. Arizona and California both continued to decline. Arizona was down 18,400 and California declined 10,400.
In the South, Texas posted the largest decline (-37,800). Maryland continued its upward trend (+3,500) and North Carolina, which has been relatively flat this year, was up 2,200 in November. Georgia, where job demand has trended down since October 2007, was down 15,100, and Florida, which has seen losses in labor demand since May 2007, was down 14,300 in November.
In the Midwest region, Minnesota had the largest drop in November (-12,600) after posting an increase in October. The other large states in the region posted small gains or were all relatively flat in November. Illinois was unchanged, while Ohio (1,600) and Wisconsin (2,200) were up modestly. Michigan was up 5,300 in November.
The downward trend in employer demand, coupled with the monthly increases in unemployed, is creating a widening gap in the supply/demand balance in most States and making it increasingly difficult for the unemployed to find jobs. The Supply/Demand rate for the U.S. has been increasing and in October (the latest month for which unemployment number are available) was at 2.27, or over 2 unemployed for every online advertised vacancy. The rate is expected to rise further when the November unemployment numbers are released.
The highest Supply/Demand rate is in Michigan (5.22), or over 5 unemployed people for every advertised vacancy. States where there are about 3 unemployed for every advertised vacancy include Ohio (3.13), California (3.12), North Carolina (3.06), Illinois (3.05), and Florida (3.03). States with the lowest Supply/Demand rates include Maryland (1.20), Virginia (1.22), Massachusetts (1.31), and Colorado (1.44). In these States, the number of unemployed is roughly equal to the number of advertised vacancies.
It should be noted that the Supply/Demand rates only provide a measure of relative tightness of the individual State labor markets and do not suggest that the occupations of the unemployed directly align with the occupations of the advertised vacancies.
OCCUPATIONAL HIGHLIGHTS
* Demand continues for healthcare workers
* Large decline in demand for management and financial occupations as well as sales jobs
Healthcare continues to be a strong area of labor demand. In November, there were 608,100 advertised vacancies for healthcare practitioners and technical occupations and another 106,900 for healthcare support staff. In both cases, the demand was above the level last November. Office and administrative support posted 541,200 advertised vacancies in November — an increase from a year ago. The farming, fishing, and forestry industry, which has a relatively small number of advertised vacancies online (5,400 ads in November), was the only other category showing an increase over the year.
In November, other occupations that had shown little impact until now from the downturn saw declines in demand. Computer and mathematical job vacancies dropped to 569,600 in November. Demand for education, training and library jobs was also down slightly to 77,400. Arts, design, entertainment, sports and media was virtually unchanged.
High-paying jobs in Management, Business/Finance and Architecture/Engineering make up about 60 percent of the drop in over-the-year online advertised vacancies in November.
The slowing economy has also negatively impacted other large lower-wage occupational groups including Sales and Related Workers (-69,900 over-the-year), Transportation and Material Moving (-30,100), and Installation, Maintenance and Repair (-24,900). Advertised vacancies in production occupations also declined by 10,000 in November.
METRO AREA HIGHLIGHTS
* 35 of the top 52 metro areas post over-the-year declines in job demand
* Of the 10 metro areas with the largest numbers of advertised vacancies, only Washington, DC has more vacancies than in November 2007
In November, 35 of the 52 metropolitan areas for which data are reported separately posted declines in the number of online advertised vacancies from last November. The New York metro area - while it continued to post the largest number of advertised vacancies (261,400) - had 48,400 fewer ads than in November 2007. Nine of the top 10 metropolitan areas with the largest number of ads posted fewer advertised vacancies this November than last November. Washington, DC, with 163,600 advertised vacancies, was the only exception.
The four metro areas in which the respective number of advertised vacancies exceeded the number of unemployed include Salt Lake City, Washington, DC, Milwaukee and Austin. Metropolitan areas where the respective number of unemployed is about equal to the number of advertised vacancies include Boston and Baltimore.
On the other hand, metro areas where the respective number of unemployed is substantially above the number of online advertised vacancies include Riverside, CA, where there are about 7 unemployed people for every advertised vacancy (7.2), Detroit (4.9), and Sacramento (3.1).
