New York, May 4, 2006--Online classified job advertisements, according to Monster Worldwide, dipped slightly in April, with demand for military-related workers falling dramatically from heavy online recruitment in the first quarter.
The Monster Employment Index eased to 163 in April from March's 164 and the year-earlier's 131. This followed three consecutive months of growth in the index, according to Monster, parent of the job search Web site Monster.com.
Online job demand for workers rose in 17 of 23 industries last month, however those gains were more than offset primarily by a drop in online military recruiting.
"Online demand for military-specific occupations dropped significantly during April, following a strong recruiting spree during the first quarter of 2006," Monster said in a statement, adding "the category's sharp decline ... contributed largely to the slight decline in the overall index."
All but one of the nine U.S. regions showed growth last month, with the mid-Atlantic area posting the sharpest rise in online job availability with a jump in New York and New Jersey, Monster said. Only the Pacific region showed a decline.
Within the overall index, Monster said online demand for construction workers surged in April due to warmer weather.
Despite the slight dip in the overall index, the company expects labor demand to remain comparatively strong this year.
"We are still very bullish on the demand for labor in 2006," said Jesse Harriott, vice president of research for Monster Worldwide, adding "we are up year-over-year quite a bit and we are up over the last three or four months quite a bit."
The slight decline in the online employment index mirrors expectations of a decline in the U.S. nonfarm payroll survey for April, which the Labor Department will release on Friday.
The median forecast of economists polled by Reuters is for 200,000 new jobs in April, lower than March's 211,000 gain.
