“The February findings of the Monster Local Employment Index show a solid rebound in online recruitment activity across 28 of the nation’s largest cities, after a seasonal slowdown that extended into January,” said Steve Pogorzelski, Group President, International at Monster Worldwide. “The Index’s broad rise last month underscores the underlying strength of the U.S. job market and tight labor conditions across much of the country. High demand for business and professional services, education, and food services workers helped spur the growth of online job availability in major cities across the country,” added Pogorzelski. The overall U.S. unemployment rate (4.5 percent) was essentially unchanged in February, and non-farm payroll was trending up, according to the U.S. Bureau of Labor Statistics (BLS).
During February, six markets (Atlanta, Chicago, Cleveland, Houston, Los Angeles and St. Louis) jumped seven points, while Dallas and Sacramento added five points, and Cincinnati, Detroit, Indianapolis and New York City all gained four points. Philadelphia and Phoenix saw the smallest increases last month, edging up one point each.
The sharp increase in the Index for Los Angeles was driven by greater demand for healthcare professionals, with both practitioners and technical and support categories establishing historical highs. According to the BLS, employment in the healthcare and social assistance industry increased significantly between January 2006 and January 2007 in Los Angeles, and the latest Index findings suggest continued strong intent to hire among local employers.
Chicago, which saw its unemployment rate dip below four percent in the fourth quarter of last year for the first time since 1998, saw greater online job availability for business and professional services in February, offsetting layoffs in the manufacturing and information services industries. Online demand rose for several white-collar categories, including business and financial operations; computer and mathematical; and arts, design, entertainment, sports and media occupations.
In the Midwest, online recruitment continued to grow at a rapid pace last month, with Cleveland and St. Louis jumping seven points and emerging as the fourth and fifth fastest growing markets year-over-year, respectively. However, persistent weakness in the manufacturing sector, which traditionally has had a high concentration of employment in the region, has resulted in mostly flat overall payroll growth in these two markets according to the BLS.
Despite gains of three and six points last month, respectively, San Diego and Sacramento lost pace on a year-over-year basis. Each of the markets saw online recruitment activity decline over the year in several important categories, with Sacramento losing steam in management; computer and mathematical; and legal occupations, and San Diego experiencing a downturn in business and financial operations; architecture and engineering; and sales and related occupations. Online demand for office and administrative support occupations also dipped year-over-year in both markets. However, strong demand in community and social services, and protective services helped offset downward pressure in Sacramento, while strong demand for workers in transportation and material moving helped boost overall demand for workers in San Diego.
Online recruitment activity among blue-collar occupations in Miami, Orlando and Tampa continued to show the possible effects of a cooling housing market. Although each market edged up four points in February, all three metro areas registered lower online job availability for construction and extraction, building and grounds cleaning and maintenance, production and transportation and material moving occupations compared to a year ago. In addition, architecture and engineering occupations were also down on a year-over-year basis in Miami and Orlando.
For the top 28 metro markets combined, the education, training and library category increased the most in February, while military-specific occupations, which extended a five-month downward trend, was the only category that fell for the month. Meanwhile, protective services and food preparation and serving-related occupations showed the fastest growth pace year-over-year, with food occupations experiencing high demand throughout the country, and 27 of the 28 metro markets tracked by the Index showing growth year-over-year.
The Index also showed a greater number of online opportunities for transportation and material moving occupations in shipping hubs such as Houston, Seattle and San Diego compared to the same month a year ago, reflecting strong international trade and commerce. In contrast, online job demand for architecture and engineering occupations declined over the year in 18 of 28 markets, with the increasingly cooler housing markets of Phoenix, Boston and San Diego declining the most.
Half of the markets tracked saw their annual growth pace edge higher in February, suggesting a broad-based firming in online job demand for workers. Houston, Dallas and Atlanta are now the top growth markets year-over-year, both overall and in several occupational categories which are sensitive to population growth, including education, training, and library; construction and extraction; and sales and related occupations. Growing online job demand in the region suggests that strong demographic trends may be fueling the need for workers in schools, housing and retail.
