Online Labor Demand Jumps in January

February 2, 2011 – Online advertised vacancies rose 438,000 in January to 4,273,000, according to The Conference Board’s Help Wanted OnLine Data Series. With the January increase, labor demand has risen 1.44 million since the series low point in April 2009. This increase now offsets approximately 80 percent of the 1.76 million drop in ad volume during the 2-year downturn period from April 2007 through April 2009. “The very strong seasonal gain to start 2011 is welcome news following seven months of essentially flat U.S. labor demand,” said June Shelp, VP at The Conference Board. “Last year, after a promising start (up about 350,000 in January 2010), labor demand fizzled, and the last half of 2010 was actually flat with no appreciable gains in job demand. Hopefully the January 2011 increase suggests that employers are seeing a pickup in their businesses and labor demand will continue to improve throughout this year.” Among the top 10 occupation groups with the largest numbers of online advertised vacancies, labor demand for healthcare practitioners and technical workers increased by 78,500 in January to 604,400, led by a demand for registered nurses, and family and general practitioners. Management positions rose by 49,000 with the largest increase in advertised vacancies including marketing managers, medical and health services managers, and sales managers.