New York, NY, February 25--The Conference Board’s Help-Wanted Advertising Index – a key barometer of America’s job market – increased three points in January. The Index now stands at 41. It was 38 one year ago.
In the last three months, help-wanted advertising increased in eight of the nine regions across the U.S. Largest increases occurred in the Mountain (22.6%), West South Central (14.4%) and South Atlantic (12.8%) regions. A decline occurred in the Pacific region (-0.7%).
Says Conference Board Economist Ken Goldstein: "The concern voiced by consumers is whether the pace of job growth will turn out to have been ‘as good as it gets.’ If new jobs continue to open up, consumer expectations could turn even more positive this spring, and that could cause more people who are not working to start looking for jobs."
The Conference Board surveys help-wanted 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.
