New York, NY, December 4, 2006--Total online job ads declined by 119,800 or 3 percent to 3,711,300 in November, according to The Conference Board Help-Wanted OnLine Data Series released today.
There were 2.4 advertised vacancies online for every 100 persons in the labor force in November. The monthly decrease in advertised job vacancies was reflected in 39 of the 50 states and was widespread across most major metropolitan areas. Over the year, online advertised vacancies increased 15% for the nation as a whole.
"The year over year growth rate in online advertised vacancies has held steady during the last few months," said Gad Levanon, economist at The Conference Board. "Advertised vacancies are not signaling any big shifts in the labor market in the near future. Employment growth is slower now than at the beginning of the year, however our data does not suggest that it will slow further."
The Conference Board introduced its newly redesigned Help Wanted Online Data Series (HWOL) with the release of the October 2006 data. The HWOL program is now one of the earliest released economic indicators for the previous month. Geographic coverage has been expanded and now provides detailed monthly data on labor demand (vacancies) for the U.S., the 9 Census regions, the 50 States, and 52 of the largest metro areas.
Information for Total Ads has been introduced along with the already existing New Ads data. Economic analysis in the release has been broadened to include both labor supply (unemployment) and labor demand (vacancies); in addition, the program has been expanded to include geographic occupational detail on labor demand along with occupational pay levels.
The 3,711,000 unduplicated online advertised vacancies in November include 2,396,000 new ads that did not appear in October, as well as reposted ads from the previous month. During November, total ads dipped 3 percent and new ads declined 5 percent. Over the year (November'05 — November'06) total ads and new ads rose 15 percent and 16 percent, respectively.
The monthly decrease of 119,800 in total ads reflects a decrease in postings in most states. These declines more than offset modest increases seen in 10 states. In one state (Kansas) the number of advertised vacancies remained unchanged. Monthly declines were greatest in the Pacific, East South Central and New England regions, and included decreases in states such as California (-21,800), Washington (-19,700), Massachusetts (-13,100), Maryland (-6,500), and Oregon (-5,900). Major metropolitan areas contributing to these declines were Seattle (-8,900), Boston (-11,200), and San Diego (-10,900), Portland (-3,600) and Washington, D.C. (-3,100).
Modest increases in advertised vacancies over the month were reported in South Dakota (+3,500); Florida (+3,400), which includes Miami (+5,700); and New York (+3,000), where gains in New York City (+8,500), Buffalo (+300), and Rochester (+900) were offset, in part, by declines in other areas of the state.
Over the year, the only region to report a decline was the East South Central region (-8%). Across the nation, states with the largest over the year gains in advertised vacancies were Louisiana (+47%), Maine (+41%), Minnesota (+34%), and Oklahoma (+31%). Metropolitan areas with the fastest over the year growth were heavily concentrated in areas where labor markets were disrupted by the 2005 Gulf Coast hurricanes; New Orleans (+138%), Oklahoma City (+73%), and Austin, TX (+48%).
California and Texas, ranked #1 and #2 in ad volume, but California had over twice the number of ads as Texas, Rhode Island and Massachusetts lead the nation with nearly 5 advertised vacancies for every 100 persons in the labor force. Virginia, Wyoming, and Utah are among the states where advertised job vacancies are greater than the number of unemployed workers.
