Continued Weakness in White Collar Job Demand

October 28, 2009 – The CareerCast.com/JobSerf Employment Index, which measures U.S. managerial recruitment activity, found that the number of online job postings in October fell to 67.8, down slightly from the September value of 68.4. The October 2009 Index is down 5.6 points from a year ago. “Weak hiring in September and October, which historically are strong months for job growth, indicates continued weakness in white-collar demand,” said Tony Lee, publisher, CareerCast.com. “Managerial job seekers will have to search smarter and harder to improve their job prospects as we head into the holiday season, a traditionally slower hiring period for executives.” Hiring for C-level and managerial jobs showed very minor decreases, while slight increases were found for VP-level and director-level positions. The October Index found that the top five metro areas (D.C., Boston, San Francisco, Seattle and Baltimore) averaged more than four times as many jobs per capita as the bottom five (Riverside, Detroit, Memphis, Miami and Tampa). Cleveland showed the most job growth, rising five places in the rankings from September to October, while Minneapolis had the largest drop. The northeast was the only region of the country to show a slight gain in October, while the Midwest showed the greatest loss in job postings. Florida, Arizona, Michigan, and Southern California continue to struggle.