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The Conference Board Help-Wanted Online Data Series(TM) Declines in December

Posted on: Tuesday, 17 January 2006, 12:00 CST

NEW YORK, Jan. 17 /PRNewswire/ -- Some 1,632,000 new online job ads were offered in December, a decline of 187,000 or 10.3 percent from November, according to The Conference Board Help-Wanted OnLine Data Series(TM). The December level was well below the August 2005 peak of 2,131,000 new online job ads. The Conference Board is the global business research and membership organization.

The monthly figures reported in the Help-Wanted OnLine Data Series reveal the total number of new first-time online job ads for each day of the calendar month. The data series does not have sufficient history to allow for seasonal adjustments. Ken Goldstein, Labor Economist at The Conference Board, noted that "a large portion of the declines in ads in November and December are seasonal declines as businesses cut back recruitment ads during the holiday season. The December data are in-line with what we are seeing in other data. The overall picture for the 2005 labor market shows levels holding steady but less robust than in early 2005. The Conference Board's latest CEO Confidence Survey tells a similar story. While CEO confidence is up in the fourth quarter, it remains below early 2005 levels."

In December there were 1.09 online job ads per 100 persons in the U.S. labor force, up from 1.21 in November, and 1.34 in October.

METROPOLITAN AREAS ALSO DECLINE

All 52 metropolitan areas for which data are available separately reported declines in new online job ads for the month of December. The monthly volume of new online job ads dipped in New Orleans for the first time since the August hurricane, down from 8,500 new ads in November to 7,500 in December. "In the aftermath of the hurricane we saw some interesting patterns in the Gulf Coast region," said Goldstein. "The online ad volume jumped substantially immediately after the hurricane with ads targeted to New Orleans workers for jobs outside the region. This was followed by an increased volume in ads for workers to handle the clean-up and reconstruction in the region. New ad volume in New Orleans is running about 70 percent above the monthly volume before the hurricanes."

SAN DIEGO TOPS THE NATION IN ONLINE JOB ADS

Adjusting job ads for the size of the local labor force, San Diego with 2.46 job ads per 100 persons in the labor force leads the way among the 52 metropolitan areas for which data is published, followed closely by San Francisco (2.39), Denver (2.37), and San Jose (2.35). The lowest number of online job ads per 100 persons in the labor force in December was in Detroit (0.55), followed by Rochester, NY (0.66).

REGIONAL RESULTS

New online ad volume declined in the nine U.S. census regions in December, reflecting in large part seasonal declines. The sharpest declines were in the West North Central region (down 17.5 percent) which includes Kansas, Missouri, Nebraska, Iowa, Minnesota and the Dakotas, and the East South Central region (16.9 percent), including Alabama, Kentucky, Mississippi and Tennessee. The East North Central region (Indiana, Illinois, Michigan, Ohio and Wisconsin) dropped 13.8 percent, while New England declined 13.5 percent. Regions declining less than the national average include the Mountain region and West South Central, both declining 9.8 percent. The South Atlantic region declined 8.6 percent while the Pacific region, which includes Alaska and Hawaii in addition to California, Oregon and Washington, had the smallest drop (8.0 percent).

ABOUT THE NEW ONLINE JOB SERIES

The Conference Board Help-Wanted Online Data Series(TM) measures the number of new, first-time online jobs 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 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.

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. 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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