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The Conference Board Help-Wanted Online Data Series(TM) Reaches New High in March

Posted on: Tuesday, 18 April 2006, 12:00 CDT

NEW YORK, April 18 /PRNewswire/ -- New online job ads rose sharply in March, reaching 2,401,200, according to The Conference Board Help-Wanted OnLine Data Series(TM). The March level was 414,600, or 21 percent above the previous month and followed a small decline in February.

The number of new ads for online jobs in March was the largest monthly count since The Conference Board launched the Help-Wanted OnLine series in April 2005 and topped the previous high levels in late summer 2005.

In March, there were 1.60 online job ads per 100 persons in the U.S. labor force, compared with 1.33 in February 2006 and 1.44 in January.

"Since March is not a particularly strong month in terms of labor demand, these latest numbers suggest the rise was not just due to seasonal factors," said Gad Levanon, Economist at The Conference Board. "The number of new ads in March was significantly higher than the number posted during the summer months, typically the peak period for hiring. Large numbers of new job ads are consistent with the robust employment numbers published by the Bureau of Labor Statistics in recent months, but other labor market indicators are weaker. So the overall job picture is still a bit mixed."

The monthly figures reported in the Help-Wanted OnLine Data Series(TM) show the total 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.

A Cross-Country Increase

New online jobs per 100 persons in the labor force increased in all nine census regions in March compared to the February level. The increases were surprisingly similar across regions. The largest increase was in the West North Central (Minnesota, Iowa, Missouri, Kansas, Nebraska and the Dakotas) and the smallest increase was in the Pacific region, up 25 percent and 18 percent, respectively. New England remains the region with the highest number of new online jobs per 100 persons (2.45), and the East South Central with the lowest (1.02).

Denver Tops the Nation in New Online Job Ads

Adjusting jobs ads for the size of the local labor force, Denver with 3.71 job ads per 100 persons in the labor force leads the way among the 52 metropolitan areas for which data is published. On the West Coast, other metropolitan areas with over 3 ads per 100 persons in the labor force include San Diego (3.65), San Francisco (3.59), Seattle-Tacoma (3.43) and San Jose (3.26). On the East Coast, Boston (3.52) and Washington D.C. (3.38) posted high numbers of ads per 100 persons in the labor force. In March, the lowest number of online job ads per 100 persons in the labor force -- and the only metropolitan area with less than one online job ad per 100 persons -- was Detroit (0.87).

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.

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 at: 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: Gad Levanon, +1-212-339-0317, or Ken Goldstein, +212-339-0331,or June Shelp, +212-339-0369, all for The Conference Board

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

Source: PRNewswire

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