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The Conference Board Help-Wanted Online Data Series Declines in November

Posted on: Tuesday, 20 December 2005, 12:00 CST

NEW YORK, Dec. 20 /PRNewswire/ -- The number of new online job ads declined by 184,700 in November to 1,819,200, dipping below 2 million for the first time since July, according to The Conference Board Help-Wanted OnLine Data Series(TM).

The November data are the sum of the number of unduplicated new first-time online job ads posted each day of the month. This figure is down 9.2 percent from October. The November decline, which reflects in part the effect of the Thanksgiving holiday, follows a dip of 1.7 percent in October.

In November there were 1.21 online job ads per 100 persons in the U.S. labor force, compared with 1.34 in October, 1.36 in September and 1.43 per 100 persons in August.

"Historically, job advertising drops off in the months of November and December," says Ken Goldstein, labor economist at The Conference Board. "This online series does not have a long enough history to seasonally adjust the data. However, we know from The Conference Board's long running Help-Wanted Index for print ads, as well as the Federal Bureau of Labor Statistics' job vacancy index (JOLTS) that businesses typically decrease their recruitment in the last two months of the year. This seasonal November decline typically reflects the Thanksgiving holiday and a slowdown in recruitments after a seasonal upturn in the late summer/early fall. Year-end budget constraints may also play a role if funds are short for paid advertisements. Nationally, the downturn in new online ad volume the week before and the week of Thanksgiving more than offset the modest increases in the other weeks in November."

REGIONAL RESULTS

Ad volume was down in all of the nine census regions in November, ranging from a decline of 6.3 percent in the Middle Atlantic region to 15.6 percent in the Pacific region. The East North Central (down 14.1 percent), New England (down 10.7 percent) and East South Central (down 15.2 percent) regions included declines in all of the major metropolitan areas covered by this data series.

The monthly change in new job ads was a bit more mixed in the other regions. The Mountain region, which declined 11.2 percent overall, includes the Denver, Phoenix and Tucson metro areas which posted gains, while Salt Lake and Las Vegas were down. In the South Atlantic region (down 10.5 percent), Miami posted modest gains in November while the other Florida metro areas of Tampa, Jacksonville and Orlando were down for the month along with Atlanta and Norfolk/Virginia Beach. Gains in Minneapolis-St. Paul were a bright spot in the West North Central region which declined 10.2 percent.

DENVER EDGES OUT SAN FRANCISCO IN ONLINE JOB ADS

Adjusting job ads for the size of the local labor force, Denver with 2.79 job ads per 100 persons in the labor force edged out San Francisco (2.63 ads per 100) to lead the way among the 52 metropolitan areas for which data is published. Following closely are San Jose (2.60), San Diego (2.58), Boston (2.55), and Washington DC (2.40). "The number of job ads per 100 participants in the labor force is consistently highest on the West and East coasts and in the Mountain area," says Goldstein. The lowest number of online job ads per 100 persons in the labor force in November was in Detroit (0.65), followed by Rochester, NY (0.76).

NEW ONLINE ADS UP SHARPLY IN NEW ORLEANS

First-time online job ads in the New Orleans area increased 42 percent in November, reflecting the demand for labor in the area that was devastated by Hurricane Katrina in the late summer. The two industries posting the largest volume of new ads were hospitals and ambulatory healthcare services, followed by specialty trade contractors. "The healthcare area is in need of a wide range of workers," says Goldstein. "There are new ads for doctors, nurses, and technicians as well as the full range of support personnel from top executives and management jobs to records clerks, secretaries, food service and general administrative support."

Overall, new online ads were down in the West South Central region (14.2 percent) in November, reflecting declines in ads for workers in Texas, Oklahoma and Louisiana. Other than New Orleans, ad volume was down in all of the metro areas for which data is reported separately including Dallas, Houston, Austin and San Antonio in Texas, and Oklahoma City in Oklahoma.

ABOUT THE ONLINE JOB SERIES

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.

Like The Conference Board's long running Help-Wanted Advertising Index of print ads (which has been published since 1951), the 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.

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.conference-board.org/economics/helpwantedOnline.cfm. The underlying data for this series is provided by Wanted Technologies, Inc. CareerBuilder, Inc. provides financial support for the series.

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. (TSX: WAN) 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/.

The Conference Board

CONTACT: Ken Goldstein, +1-212-339-0331, or June Shelp +1-212-339-0369,both for The Conference Board

Web site: http://www.conference-board.org/http://www.wantedtech.com/http://www.careerbuilder.com/

Source: PRNewswire

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