THE NATIONAL - REGIONAL PICTURE
In October, 2,875,300 of the 4,161,700 unduplicated online advertised vacancies were new ads that did not appear in September, while the remainder are reposted ads from the previous month. The 2.5 percent decrease in total ads was caused primarily by a 2 percent decrease in new ads. Despite these declines, over-the-year (October'06 - October'07) total ads and new ads rose 8.6 percent and 13.8 percent, respectively.
The national decline in advertised vacancies between September and October '07 reflected a lower volume of ads in eight of the nine Census regions (ad volume was virtually unchanged in the Middle Atlantic region). Over-the-year (October '06 - October '07) seven of the nine regions continued to show a gain in labor demand. The Mountain region once again had the highest ad rate (3.74), as four of the region's states (Arizona, Colorado, Nevada and Montana) are among the top 10 states with the highest ads rate. The central regions of the country experienced the largest over the year gains with the West South Central region leading (up 29%), followed by the East North Central region (up 19%). Despite the over-the-year gains, the growth rate in most regions slowed down in recent months. The New England region, which, despite having the second highest ads rates (3.64 ads per 100 persons in the regional labor force), declined 6% in the last 12 months. The Pacific region, which had an ads rate of 3.45, also dipped 2.4% from last year's level.
The October figures reported in the Help-Wanted OnLine Data Series™ reflect the sum of the number of unduplicated online job ads for each day from mid-September to mid-October. This new series, which includes data from April 2005, does not have sufficient history to allow for seasonally adjusted monthly data.
STATE HIGHLIGHTS
* Alaska posts the highest ads rate in the country in October.
* Montana leads the nation with the lowest supply/demand rate for the fifth month in a row.
Alaska posted 4.66 vacancies for every 100 persons in the state labor force, the highest rate in the nation, for the second month in a row. Nevada (4.51) and Colorado (4.35) were close behind in the number of advertised vacancies when adjusted for the size of the state labor force. Other states in the top five included Delaware (4.30) and Montana (4.30). Online advertised vacancies in California, the state with the largest labor force in the nation, totaled 628,500 in October. The volume of online advertised vacancies in California was significantly above the next highest states, Texas (364,600), New York (290,300) and Florida (244,100).
"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 Federal 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 Montana (0.50), Idaho (0.55), Wyoming (0.61), and Delaware (0.68). There were 14 states where the supply/demand rate was less than 1.0, indicating that the number of unemployed workers was fewer than the number of online job ads. For the nation as a whole, the comparable supply/demand rate for October was 1.63 indicating that the number of unemployed persons exceeded the number of online advertised vacancies.
States where the number of unemployed persons looking for work significantly exceeded the number of online advertised demand included Mississippi (4.71) and Michigan (4.02), Kentucky (3.30) and Arkansas (3.00).
OCCUPATIONAL FOCUS
* Over 317,000 ads posted for healthcare practitioners and technical occupations in October.
* Management and Business/Financial occupations account for more than 30% of online ads in New York and Illinois.
"Many jobs in high demand are also, on average, among the highest paying occupations," said Levanon. Healthcare practitioners and technical workers (317,000) and management positions (285,600) continue to be top occupations with a significant number of ads posted online. According to the latest federal hourly wage data, wages average above $44 an hour for management positions and about $30 an hour for healthcare practitioners and technicians. Also in high demand are office and administrative support (255,900), business and financial occupations (246,800), and computer and mathematical (240,900) occupations.
AUSTIN, TX METRO AREA LEADS AGAIN
* Austin ranks first with 6.40 ads per 100 persons in the labor force.
* Salt Lake City has the lowest supply/demand ratio in the nation.
The top metro areas in October with around six advertised vacancies per 100 persons in the local labor force included Austin (6.40) and San Jose (6.13) and Milwaukee (5.75). The number of unemployed persons looking for work was fewer than the number of advertised vacancies in 14 of the 52 metro areas for which data are reported separately. Cities across the nation where the number of advertised vacancies are plentiful in relation to the number of unemployed included Salt Lake City, Washington, D.C., Austin, Phoenix, Denver and San Francisco.
Two of the nation's largest metropolitan areas, New York and Los Angeles, were first and second in the absolute volume of advertised job vacancies in October, with 300,300 and 226,300, respectively.
