Conference Board report shows steep decline in job postings online

According to a recent report by The Conference Board, there were 131,000 fewer “jobs wanted” ads posted online in April 2009 than the previous month. That follows on the heels of a 100,000 dip in March, but nowhere near the consecutive declines of over 500,000 jobs in both December 2008 and January 2009. Overall, 1.32 million fewer jobs were posted from November 2008 through April 2009 than from May 2008 through October 2008 — a 30 percent drop.

“Based on the April numbers, we are not out of the woods, but the decline in labor demand is moderating,” said Gad Levanon, senior economist at The Conference Board in the organization’s press release. “April and May are both months where business typically steps up their demand for workers. This year, that bounce may be more evident next month. In March, there were 10 million more unemployed workers than advertised vacancies.”

Michigan had more than eight unemployed people for every advertised vacancy, followed by Mississippi and Indiana with a little over seven unemployed people for every advertised vacancy, and Kentucky and North Carolina with just under seven. For the second straight month, no state had fewer unemployed people than advertised vacancies.

The Conference Board Help-Wanted Online Data Series measures the number of new, first-time online jobs and jobs reposted from the previous month on more than 1,200 major Internet job boards and smaller job boards that serve niche markets and smaller geographic areas.

Click here to read the full Conference Board study.

–SNEWS® Editors