Frank Tortorici

In October there were 4,161,700 online advertised vacancies, a decrease of 108,300 or -2.5% percent from the September level, according to The Conference Board Help-Wanted OnLine Data Series" (HWOL). Nationally online advertised vacancies were up (8.6%) over the year (October'06-October'07). There were 2.71 advertised vacancies online for every 100 persons in the labor force in October.<br /><br />"The year on year growth rate of online advertised vacancies, while still positive, has slowed in recent months, and the 8.6% increase (October'06-October'07) is the smallest since this series began in May 2005, said Gad Levanon, Economist at The Conference Board. "These data suggest that the slow pace in the labor market will continue in the months ahead and is likely to extend into the early months of 2008. We are getting the same signal from The Conference Board Consumer Confidence survey, which showed further weakness in the labor market and the U.S. economy as a whole. <br /><br /><br />THE NATIONAL - REGIONAL PICTURE       <br /><br />In October, 2,875,300 of the 4,161,700 unduplicated online advertised vacancies were new ads that did not appear in September, while the remainder are reposted ads from the previous month. The 2.5 percent decrease in total ads was caused primarily by a 2 percent decrease in new ads. Despite these declines, over-the-year (October'06 - October'07) total ads and new ads rose 8.6 percent and 13.8 percent, respectively. <br /><br />The national decline in advertised vacancies between September and October '07 reflected a lower volume of ads in eight of the nine Census regions (ad volume was virtually unchanged in the Middle Atlantic region). Over-the-year (October '06 - October '07) seven of the nine regions continued to show a gain in labor demand. The Mountain region once again had the highest ad rate (3.74), as four of the region's states (Arizona, Colorado, Nevada and Montana) are among the top 10 states with the highest ads rate. The central regions of the country experienced the largest over the year gains with the West South Central region leading (up 29%), followed by the East North Central region (up 19%). Despite the over-the-year gains, the growth rate in most regions slowed down in recent months. The New England region, which, despite having the second highest ads rates (3.64 ads per 100 persons in the regional labor force), declined 6% in the last 12 months. The Pacific region, which had an ads rate of 3.45, also dipped 2.4% from last year's level.<br /><br />The October figures reported in the Help-Wanted OnLine Data Series" reflect the sum of the number of unduplicated online job ads for each day from mid-September to mid-October. This new series, which includes data from April 2005, does not have sufficient history to allow for seasonally adjusted monthly data.<br /><br /><br />OCCUPATIONAL FOCUS<br /><br />- Over 317,000 ads posted for healthcare practitioners and technical occupations in October.<br />- Management and Business/Financial occupations account for more than 30% of online ads in New York and Illinois.<br /><br />"Many jobs in high demand are also, on average, among the highest paying occupations, said Levanon. Healthcare practitioners and technical workers (317,000) and management positions (285,600) continue to be top occupations with a significant number of ads posted online. According to the latest federal hourly wage data, wages average above $44 an hour for management positions and about $30 an hour for healthcare practitioners and technicians. Also in high demand are office and administrative support (255,900), business and financial occupations (246,800), and computer and mathematical (240,900) occupations. <br /><br />