Conference Board Reports to Online Job Demand Stabilizing
June 30, 2009 – Online advertised vacancies declined 66,700 to 3,294,800 in June, according to The Conference Board Help-Wanted Online Data Series (HWOL). In the five months since January, online labor demand has dropped a relatively modest 71,000, in sharp contrast to the 1,200,000 decline in the previous five months from August 2008 to January 2009. “We are not out of the woods yet, but job demand has definitely stabilized since January,” said Gad Levanon, Conference Board senior economist. “Although there is some bounce in the monthly numbers, the number of online advertised vacancies has held steady in the last three months (up a modest 35,000). Across the U.S., it is an increasingly mixed picture with some states, like Florida and Georgia, showing some modest gains, others such as New York, North Carolina holding steady, and some, like California and Pennsylvania, yet to show real improvement.” 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.