Monster Employment Index Dips in December

January 7, 2010 – The Monster Employment Index, a monthly analysis of millions of online job opportunities culled from a large, representative selection of corporate career sites and job boards, edged down four points in December, amid a relatively mild seasonal fall in online recruitment activity. On a year-over-year basis, the Index is now down 12 percent, the mildest rate of annual decline seen during the past 18 months, indicating slight stability in underlying employer demand for workers at the end of the year. “The decline in the Index during December is typical due to end-of-year seasonality. However, the improvement in the annual rate of decline lends evidence to a slight firming in underlying employer demand for workers at the end of the year” said Jesse Harriott, senior vice president and chief knowledge officer at Monster Worldwide. “Despite a challenging economic climate, hiring conditions seem to continue to stabilize, if not already slowly improving.”