Online Job Ads Slowdown Continues in February

Online posted job vacancies in February grew only 3 percent from the February 2007 level, according to (pdf) the Help-Wanted OnLine Data Series (HWOL) from The Conference Board, which said that was the smallest annual growth since the series began in May 2005, writes MarketingCharts.

The 3,927,500 online advertised vacancies posted in February 2008 were up 17 percent, or 565,000, over January - an expected seasonal (post-holiday) rise. February’s rate represents 2.6 advertised vacancies posted online for every 100 persons in the labor force.

The February results reflect a continued softening in labor demand; January results were a comparatively sluggish 7 percent growth over January 2007.

“The softening in advertised vacancies is widespread,” said Gad Levanon, economist at The Conference Board. “For the past three months, 75 percent of states had an average annual growth rate slower than the previous year. These data, along with the drop in the Consumer Confidence Index from 112 in July 2007 to 75 in February 2008, suggest that the slow pace of labor demand observed during the last half of 2007 may even slow further in the upcoming months.”

Below, additioanl findings issued by the Conference Board:

The National/Regional Picture

In February, 2,756,700 of the 3,927,500 unduplicated online advertised vacancies were new ads that did not appear in January, while the remainder are reposted ads from the previous month.

• The monthly increase of 17 percent in total ads and the 24 percent in new ads is attributable to a post-holiday seasonal correction.
• However, over-the-year (February ‘07 - February ‘08) total ads and new ads rose only a modest 3 percent and 8 percent, respectively - the lowest annual increases posted since the series began in 2005.
• The monthly national increase in advertised vacancies between January and February ‘08 reflected a seasonal gain in ads in all nine Census regions.
• February ‘07 - February ‘08, seven of the nine regions continued to show a gain in labor demand, albeit the growth rate was slower than the previous year.
• Two exceptions to this were New England and the Pacific region ,which declined 3 percent and 12 percent, respectively.

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