Conference Board’s Help-Wanted Ad Index Unchanged

New York, NY, May 31, 2007--The Conference Board Help-Wanted Advertising Index, a measure of job offerings in major newspapers across America, was unchanged in April. The Index stands at 29. It was 34 one year ago.

The Conference Board is the global business research and membership organization.

In the last three months, help-wanted advertising declined in seven of the nine U.S. regions. Steepest declines occurred in the East South Central (-36.7%), New England (-19.3%), East North Central (-8.4%) and South Atlantic (-8.4%) regions.

Says Ken Goldstein, labor economist at The Conference Board: "There's been speculation that the economy won't be much stronger this summer than it was in the first quarter. The Leading Economic Indicators have been relatively soft in recent months. Print want-ad volume was flat in April. Online advertising was a little stronger. The JOLTS data (Job Openings and Labor Turnover) showed no negative change through March. These data suggest there is a chance that the labor market might continue to open up new jobs at a pace of about 120,000 to 130,000 new jobs a month this summer — about the same pace as in the spring."