New York, NY, June 21, 2006--New online job ads increased in May to 2,354,500, according to The Conference Board Help-Wanted OnLine Data Series. The May level was 91,800, or 4 percent above the previous month and followed a sharp decline in April.
Despite the increase, the number of new ads for online jobs in May was lower than in March, which was the month with the highest count since The Conference Board launched the Help-Wanted OnLine Data series in April 2005. In May, there were 1.57 online job ads per 100 persons in the U.S. labor force, compared with 1.51 in April 2006 and 1.60 in March. Over the year May 2005 to May 2006, new online job ads increased 17.4 percent, an increase that is consistent with the rise seen in other labor market indicators during the same period.
"May is typically a month with strong recruitment activity as students are graduating around the country. Therefore, it is somewhat surprising that the count for May was lower than in March," said Gad Levanon, economist at The Conference Board. "This might point to some continued slowing in hiring that is consistent with weak government measures of employment, hiring and vacancies in April and especially weak employment growth in May. Other labor market indicators, including employment related questions from our Consumer Confidence Index, are also providing signals of a weakening job market in recent months." The monthly figures reported in the Help-Wanted OnLine Data Series are the sum of the number of unduplicated new online job ads for each day of the calendar month. The series is a new series with data available monthly beginning in April 2005 and does not have sufficient history to allow for seasonal adjustments.
Increases in new online job ads were evident in all nine census regions in May compared to the April level. The largest increases for the month were in the Pacific region and the Middle Atlantic region (New Jersey, New York and Pennsylvania), up 7 percent and 6 percent respectively. The smallest increases were in the Mountain region (Arizona, Colorado, Idaho, New Mexico, Montana, Utah, Nevada, and Wyoming), and the South Atlantic region (Delaware, District of Columbia, Florida, Georgia, Maryland, North and South Carolina, Virginia, West Virginia), up 2 percent each. New England remains the region with the highest number of new online jobs per 100 persons (2.38), and the East South Central with the lowest (0.98).
Looking at May 2006 compared to May 2005, the number of new job ads was up in all census regions except for the East South Central region. The largest gains are concentrated in the west and southwestern parts of the country. The largest increase was in the West South Central region, up 40 percent over the year. This region includes Texas and Oklahoma as well as Louisiana where the job picture is impacted by last year's severe hurricanes and increased rebuilding activity. Other areas with substantial year-over-year gains in online job ads were the Mountain and Pacific regions (24 percent and 26 percent, respectively).
In contrast, online job ads in the East South Central region (Alabama, Kentucky, Mississippi and Tennessee) declined by 5.2 percent between May 2005 and May 2006. Year-over-year increases that were well below the national average were reported for the Middle Atlantic region (New York, New Jersey and Pennsylvania), up 6.3 percent, and the East North Central region (Illinois, Indiana, Ohio, Michigan and Wisconsin), up 8.2 percent. "This OnLine Series is still very new and in a developmental stage, making the regional year-over-year changes something that should be interpreted with caution," said Levanon.
