In the last three months, help-wanted advertising rose in eight of the nine U.S. regions. Largest increases occurred in the New England (35.8%), East North Central (24.3%) and Mountain (21.9%) regions. The Pacific region declined 6.9%.
Says Ken Goldstein, labor economist at The Conference Board: "The labor market was strong in the final months of 2006. The forward indicators of labor market activity suggest moderate economic growth will continue to deliver new jobs into the late winter and early spring months. The latest data shows that job advertising in print was up a little in December, and held on to most of that increase in January. Online ad volume (on a year-over-year basis) was a little stronger. Initial claims for unemployment benefits showed a small drop." The JOLTS data (Job Opening and Labor Turnover), which had remained stubbornly flat throughout most of 2006, finally showed a little improvement in December (latest data available). "These data all add up to a picture of a labor market with a little more spark now than a few months ago. That's remarkable, considering that the labor market and the economy were put through very sharp changes in energy costs and a significant slump in the housing market."
Online Advertised Job Vacancies Take a Dip in January
In January there were 3,141,800 online advertised vacancies, a decline of 6 percent from December, according to The Conference Board Help-Wanted OnLine Data Series™. Over the year, online advertised vacancies were up 12 percent for the nation as a whole. In January there were 2.06 advertised vacancies online for every 100 persons in the national labor force, down slightly from 2.19 the month before, but up from 1.89 a year ago.
ABOUT THE HELP-WANTED ADVERTISING INDEX
The Conference Board surveys help-wanted print advertising volume in 51 major newspapers across the country every month. Because ad volume has proven to be sensitive to labor market conditions, this measure provides a gauge of change in the local, regional and national supply of jobs.
