Help-Wanted Ad Index Dips

New York, NY, July 27, 2007--The Conference Board Help-Wanted Advertising Index — a key measure of job offerings in major newspapers across America — dipped one point in June. The Index now stands at 26. It was 32 one year ago.

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

In the last three months, help-wanted advertising declined in all nine U.S. regions. Largest declines occurred in the Pacific (-24.6%), East South Central (-16.4%) and Mountain (-15.4%) regions.

Says Ken Goldstein, labor economist at The Conference Board, "Business caution about the near-term prospects for the economy, and perhaps for their own businesses, may lead to a little less hiring this autumn. Already, there are signs that job advertising volume is edging a little lower — with very slight decreases in each of the past two months. Other forward indicators of labor market activity are not much stronger than the measure based on print advertising. Online volume showed a little loss in momentum in recent months. Initial unemployment claims also have turned more flat. Finally, the JOLTS data (Job Openings and Labor Turnover survey) showed very little change through May."

Online advertised job vacancies also dipped in June. Total online job ads were 4,280,400 in June, a drop of 94,000 or 2% from May, according to The Conference Board Help-Wanted OnLine Data Series. There were 2.8 advertised vacancies online for every 100 persons in the labor force in June.