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The Conference Board Help-Wanted OnLine Data Series(TM) Declines in July But Latest Figure Still 10 Percent Higher Than April Level

Posted on: Tuesday, 16 August 2005, 12:00 CDT

NEW YORK, Aug. 16 /PRNewswire/ -- The Conference Board Help-Wanted OnLine Data Series(TM) reveals today that the number of new online job ads fell slightly to 1,970,000 in July from just over 2 million in May and June. The latest figure is still almost 10 percent higher than the 1,799,000 new online jobs posted in April.

Online ad volume in the Rocky Mountain, Pacific and South Atlantic regions continues to show steady growth (discounting the impact of the July 4th holiday).

Declares Ken Goldstein, labor economist at The Conference Board: "While the new online job series is in its infancy, latest readings are consistent with other labor market data, which shows the U.S. labor market is holding steady. The Conference Board's Help-Wanted Advertising Index (which covers classified print job advertising in major newspapers throughout America), and job opening and labor turnover data from the U.S. Bureau of Labor Statistics all suggest a generally stable job market."

The July dip in new online ad postings largely reflects the July 4th holiday week, when ad volume is lower than during the last three weeks of July. "While weekly data often bounce around a bit, ad volume in the last three weeks of July was in-line with the numbers we saw in May and June," Goldstein notes.

The Conference Board Help-Wanted OnLine Data Series(TM) measures the number of new, first-time online job ads posted on more than 1,200 major Internet job boards and smaller job boards that serve niche markets and smaller geographic areas.

NEW ENGLAND OUTPACES ALL OTHER REGIONS

The July numbers translate into 1.33 new online job ads for every 100 persons in the civilian labor force (people who are employed and those actively seeing work). The New England region, at 1.88 ads per 100 workers, continues to lead the way in the number of ads per 100 participants in the labor force. Following closely are the Pacific Coast (1.86) and Rocky Mountain (1.84) regions.

ABOUT THE NEW ONLINE JOB SERIES

Like The Conference Board's long running Help-Wanted Advertising Index of print ads (which has been published since 1951), the new online series is not a direct measure of job vacancies. The level of ads in both print and online may change for reasons not related to overall job demand. Over the years, analysts have applied various data-smoothing techniques to the Help-Wanted Advertising Index of print ads and determined that it continues to be a useful measure of the state of labor demand in the United States (see Federal Reserve Bank of San Francisco, Economic Letter, #2005-02, January 21, 2005).

The Conference Board, as a standard practice with new data series, considers the estimates in The Conference Board Help-Wanted OnLine Data Series(TM) to be developmental. As a not-for-profit business research organization, The Conference Board is publishing the early months of this series for use by the media, analysts, researchers and the business community. Persons using this data are urged to review the information on the database and methodology available on our website and contact the economists listed at the top of this release with questions and comments.

Background information and technical notes on this new series are available on The Conference Board's website -- http://www.tcb.org/ .

ABOUT THE CONFERENCE BOARD

Non-partisan and not-for-profit, The Conference Board is one of the world's leading business membership and research organizations. The Conference Board produces The Consumer Confidence Index and the Leading Economic Indicators for the U.S. and other major nations. These barometers can have a major impact on the financial markets. The Conference Board also produces a wide range of authoritative reports on corporate governance and ethics, human resources and diversity, executive compensation and corporate citizenship. Our conference and council programs bring together more than 10,000 senior executives each year to share insights and learn from each other. Visit The Conference Board's award-winning website at http://www.conference-board.org/ .

About WANTED Technologies Inc.

Founded in 1997, WANTED Technologies Inc. is a leading provider of real- time sales and business intelligence. Through its proprietary data mining and aggregation technology, WANTED delivers concise, accurate and actionable data, aimed at helping to increase sales and profitability for its clientele throughout North America. WANTED was recently bestowed the Model of Excellence Award by the InfoCommerce Group in recognition of online business innovation. For more information, visit http://www.wantedtech.com/ .

About CareerBuilder.com

CareerBuilder.com is the nation's largest online job site with more than 20 million unique visitors and over 1 million jobs. Owned by Tribune Company, Gannett Co., Inc., and Knight Ridder, Inc., the company offers a vast online and print network to help job seekers connect with employers. CareerBuilder.com powers the career centers for more than 550 partners that include 165 newspapers and leading portals such as MSN and America Online. For more information about CareerBuilder.com products and services, visit http://www.careerbuilder.com/.

THESE DATA ARE FOR NEWS ANALYSIS PURPOSES ONLY. NOT FOR REDISTRIBUTION OR PUBLIC POSTING WITHOUT EXPRESS PERMISSION.

The Conference Board Help-Wanted OnLine Data Series(TM) Number of New Online Help Wanted Ads per Number of New Online 100 Participants in the Help Wanted Ads (in 1000s)** Labor Force*** Location* April May June July April May June July National 1,799.3 2,007.1 2,049.9 1,972.0 1.22 1.36 1.39 1.33 New England 139.3 157.4 152.2 140.9 1.87 2.11 2.04 1.88 Pacific 389.6 435.1 458.0 443.2 1.64 1.84 1.93 1.86 Mountain 159.7 187.7 196.4 187.7 1.58 1.85 1.93 1.84 South Atlantic 371.7 415.5 431.1 421.2 1.35 1.51 1.56 1.52 Middle Atlantic 273.6 305.2 291. 277.2 1.37 1.52 1.45 1.38 West North Central 108.3 120.2 119.7 119.4 1.00 1.11 1.11 1.10 East North Central 221.7 246.1 242.4 239.2 0.94 1.04 1.03 1.01 East South Central 78.1 87.1 83.1 78.5 0.93 1.04 1.00 0.94 West South Central 137.2 155.4 156.5 150.2 0.85 0.96 0.96 0.92 Source: The Conference Board

Technical definitions and methodology available at http://www.conference-board.org/.

* Boundaries are as defined by the US Census Bureau. ** An online help wanted ad is counted as "New" only in the month it first appears and only once per defined geographic area. *** Help-wanted online ads per 100 participants in the civilian labor force are based on the average of the total number of persons in the civilian labor force for each geographic area over the most-recent 6 months as defined by the Bureau of Labor Statistics. The labor force is defined as persons in the civilian population, age 16 and over, who are employed and those looking for work.

THESE DATA ARE FOR NEWS ANALYSIS PURPOSES ONLY.NOT FOR REDISTRIBUTION OR PUBLIC POSTING WITHOUT EXPRESS PERMISSION.

The Conference Board Help-Wanted Online Data Series(TM) New Online Help Wanted Ads, July 2005 ** Location* Number Location* Number (in 1000s) (in 1000s) New England 140.9 West North Central 119.4 Boston 52.9 Kansas City 14.2 Hartford 10.9 Minneapolis-St.Paul 22.4 Providence 9.0 Saint Louis 14.0 Mountain 187.7 East North Central 239.2 Denver 32.4 Chicago 56.7 Las Vegas 20.6 Cincinnati 12.4 Phoenix 36.0 Cleveland 15.4 Salt Lake City 15.6 Columbus 9.7 Tucson 8.1 Detroit 15.3 Pacific 443.2 Indianapolis 11.4 Honolulu 6.1 Milwaukee 12.1 Los Angeles 77.9 East South Central 78.5 Portland 20.1 Birmingham 8.9 Riverside 25.6 Louisville 8.3 Sacramento 26.3 Memphis 8.4 San Diego 39.0 Nashville 9.3 San Francisco 40.7 West South Central 150.2 San Jose 17.5 Austin 14.8 Seattle-Tacoma 42.1 Dallas 29.4 South Atlantic 421.2 Houston 25.9 Atlanta 41.5 New Orleans 4.5 Baltimore 20.8 Oklahoma City 4.8 Charlotte 14.2 San Antonio 7.8 Jacksonville 10.6 Middle Atlantic 277.2 Miami 18.6 Buffalo 7.5 Norfolk 26.8 New York 76.4 Orlando 14.6 Philadelphia 33.2 Richmond 10.4 Pittsburgh 12.6 Tampa 28.1 Rochester 4.6 Washington, DC 60.9 Source: The Conference Board

Technical definitions and methodology available at http://www.conference-board.org/.

* Metropolitan Statistical Areas (MSA cities) are as defined by the US Census Bureau ** An online help wanted ad is counted as "New" only in the month it first appears and only once per defined geographic area.

The Conference Board

CONTACT: Ken Goldstein, +1-212-339-0331, Linda Barrington,+1-212-339-0481, or June Shelp, +1-212-339-0369, all of The Conference Board

Web site: http://www.conference-board.org/

Source: PRNewswire

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