Online advertised job vacancies in Vermont rose 800 and the nation as a whole increased by 93,800 in December to 3,951,000, according toThe Conference Board Help Wanted OnLine®(HWOL)Data Seriesreleased today. The December increase offset the dips of 76,000 in November and 14,000 in October. The Supply/Demand rate stands at 3.45, indicating there were 3.5 unemployed for every online advertised vacancy in November, the latest monthly data available for unemployment.
"The December increase was a welcome lift for labor demand after a lackluster year," saidJune Shelp, Vice President at The Conference Board.Labor demand struggled in 2011. After a promising start in the early months of the year, labor demand had been basically flat since August. Some of the occupations that saw an uptick in December are among those in which the Supply/Demand rate (number of unemployed relative to advertised vacancies) was well above the National average for all occupations.Production jobs,where there are 7.7 unemployed for every advertised vacancy, rose 11,000 in December andBuilding and groundsworkers, with a S/D rate of 12.6, rose 5,300.(See occupational detail section.)
REGIONAL AND STATE HIGHLIGHTS
In December:
All 4 regions experience gains
Among the 20 largest States, gains were widespread
In the South, gains were offset by declines inVirginiaandMaryland
In December, the Midwest experienced the largest gain, 44,600,reflecting gains in all 6 of its largest States.Michiganhad the largest increase, 12,400.Illinoiswas next with a gain of 6,500. Ohio rose 6,400. Minnesota andMissouriboth gained 5,100 after a November loss of over 6,000 each.Wisconsinrose 4,800, its first gain since May. Among the less populous States in the region,Iowagained 3,200,North Dakotarose 1,200, andSouth Dakotagained 600.
Labor demand in theWestwas up 41,200 in December and was led by its largest State,California, which gained 12,500.Coloradogained 6,900.Washington Staterose 3,900.Arizonagained 3,500. Among the medium / smaller States in the West,Oregongained 3,700,Idahorose 2,100,New Mexicogained 1,500,Utahrose 800, andNevadagained 700.
TheNortheastwas up by 27,200 in December, reflecting gains in all 4 of its large States.New Yorkexperienced the largest gain, 7,500, compensating for its November loss. Next wasMassachusettswith a gain of 5,500, its first gain since May.New Jerseyrose 4,900.Pennsylvaniagained 2,100. Among the smaller States in the region,Connecticutrose 4,100,New Hampshiregained 1,600,Vermontrose 800, andRhode Islandgained 400.
TheSouthrose 10,500, led by a gain of 4,500 inTexas, rising for the fourth consecutive month whileNorth Carolinarose 3,200. These increases were offset, in part, by weak labor demand in several of the other large states. Among the largest States,VirginiaandMarylanddeclined 11,200 and 2,500 respectively, whileFlorida(+100) andGeorgia(+600) showed little change in December. Among the less populous States in the South, several posted increases in December.Oklahomagained 1,900,Tennesseerose 1,700,Louisianagained 1,500, andArkansasrose 1,300.
The Supply/Demand rate for the U.S. in November (the latest month for which unemployment numbers are available) stood at 3.45, indicating that there are over 3 unemployed workers for every online advertised vacancy. Nationally, there are 9.4 million more unemployed workers than advertised vacancies. While the number of advertised vacancies rose an average of 29,000 a month, the November Supply/Demand rate was basically in line with the January '11 rate of 3.24.
The number of advertised vacancies exceeded the number of unemployed only inNorth Dakota, where the Supply/Demand rate was 0.88. States with the next lowest rates includedNebraska(1.27),South Dakota(1.40),Vermont(1.60),Alaska(1.83),Minnesota(1.89), andNew Hampshire(1.92).The State with the highest Supply/Demand rate isMississippi(7.73), where there are close to 8 unemployed workers for every online advertised vacancy. The States with the next highest Supply/Demand rates areKentucky(5.25),California(4.84),Alabama(4.78), andIllinois(4.78).
It should be noted that the Supply/Demand rate only provides a measure of relative tightness of the individual State labor markets and does not suggest that the occupations of the unemployed directly align with the occupations of the advertised vacancies (see Occupational Highlights section).
OCCUPATIONAL HIGHLIGHTS
In December:
Demand for Management and Computer and Mathematical Science workers shows increase
Ads for Healthcare Practitioners and Technical and Architecture and Engineering workers decline
Changes for the Month of December
In December, seventeen of the 22 Standard Occupational Classifications (SOC codes) that are reported separately posted gains, four declined, and one,Life, Physical, and Social Science, was unchanged.
Among the top 10 occupation groups with the largest numbers of online advertised vacancies, demand forManagementoccupationsrose 15,100 to 381,200, which more than offset the previous 2-month decrease of 11,700. Responsible for the rise was higher demand for Education Administrators, Elementary and Secondary School. The number of unemployed in these occupations remains above the number of advertised vacancies with almost 2 (1.88) unemployed for every advertised vacancy.
Labor demand forComputer and Mathematical Scienceworkers rose 10,400 to 524,100. Responsible for the rise was higher demand for document management specialists. The number of advertised vacancies in this occupational category continues to outnumber job-seekers by 2.9 to 1 (0.34 S/D based on November data, the latest unemployment data available).
Healthcare Practitioners and Technicaloccupations posted a decrease of 7,600 to 522,200. Largely responsible for the drop were decreased advertised vacancies for Registered Nurses. The number of advertised vacancies in this occupational category continues to be quite favorable and outnumber job-seekers by 2.9 to 1 (0.34 S/D).
Architecture and Engineeringpositions decreased by 5,300 to 141,000 advertised vacancies in December. Industrial Engineers were largely responsible for this decline. In this field the number of advertised vacancies continues to outnumber job-seekers by 1.2 to one (0.86 S/D based on November data, the latest unemployment data available).
Longer View of Labor Demand for Selected Occupations
A number of the occupations that posted gains inDecember 2011were among the occupations that have high Supply/Demand rates indicating that the number of out-of-work job seekers exceeds the advertised vacancies. However, for many of these occupations, the situation has improved substantially since the months after the official end of the recession (June 2009). InNovember 2011occupations where finding a position is more challenging and where there are more unemployed than advertised vacancies includeConstruction(16.7 unemployed for every advertised opening). However, in the last six months of 2009 there were just under 50 unemployed looking for work in construction jobs for every online advertised vacancy. Other occupations where looking for a job is still challenging, but somewhat easier than at the end of the recession, includeProduction occupationsandBuilding and grounds cleaning and maintenance.InNovember 2011the Supply/Demand rates forProduction occupationswas 7.7, and 12.6 forBuilding and groundsjobs. In the last 6 months of 2009 the S/D rate for both occupations was 21.6.
Other occupations that continue to have relatively high Supply/Demand rate includeFood preparation and serving(8.4); andPersonal care(7.5), indicating inNovember 2011there were around 8 unemployed for every available online opening. Job prospects in both of these occupations have improved since the end of 2009, albeit the reduction has been less dramatic than in other occupations such as construction. In the last six months of 2009, there were about 12 (11.9) unemployed for every available ad in Food preparation and serving jobs and 9 (8.7) unemployed for every vacancy in Personal care.
METRO AREA HIGHLIGHTS
There are less than 2 unemployed for every online advertised vacancy in 10 of the top 52 metro areas
Washington, D.C., has the lowest Supply/Demand rate (1.24)
In December, 42 of the 52 metropolitan areas for which data are reported separately posted over-the-year increases in the number of online advertised vacancies. Among the three metro areas with the largest numbers of advertised vacancies, theNew Yorkmetro area was down 400, or 0.2 percent, from itsDecember 2010level and theWashington, DCmetro area was down 9,800, or 7.4 percent, from last year. The Los Angeles metro area was up 900, or 0.7 percent, from last year's level.
The number of unemployed exceeded the number of advertised vacancies in all of the 52 metro areas for which information is reported separately. Washington, DC continues to have the most favorable Supply/Demand rate (1.24) with about one advertised vacancy for every unemployed worker. Minneapolis-St. Paul,Oklahoma City,Boston, andSalt Lake Citywere metropolitan locations with the next lowest Supply/Demand rates. On the other hand, metro areas in which the respective number of unemployed is substantially above the number of online advertised vacancies includeRiverside, CA‘ where there are nearly nine unemployed workers for every advertised vacancy (8.86) ‘Sacramento(5.18),Miami(5.10),Los Angeles(4.54),Las Vegas(4.24), andChicago(4.12). Supply/Demand rate data are forOctober 2011, the latest month for which unemployment data for local areas are available.
PROGRAM NOTES
The Conference BoardHelp 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 sites and smaller job sites that serve niche markets and smaller geographic areas.
Like The Conference Board's long-running Help Wanted Advertising Index of print ads (which was published for over 55 years and discontinued inDecember 2008but continues to be available for research), the new online series is not a direct measure of job vacancies. The level of ads in print and online can change for reasons not related to overall job demand.
With theDecember 1, 2008release, HWOL began providing seasonally adjusted data for the U.S., the nine Census regions and the 50 States. Seasonally adjusted data for occupations were provided beginning with theDecember 2009release. This data series, for which the earliest data are forNovember 2005, continues to publish not seasonally adjusted data for 52 large metropolitan areas.
People using this data are urged to review the information on the database and methodology available on The Conference Board website and contact us with questions and comments. Background information and technical notes and discussion of revisions to the series are available at:http://www.conference-board.org/data/helpwantedonline.cfm.
The underlying online job listings data for this series is provided byWanted Technologies Corporation.Additional information on theBureau of Labor Statisticsdata used in this release can be found on the BLS website,www.bls.gov.
The Conference Board
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WANTED Technologies Corporation
WANTEDis a leading supplier of real-time sales and business intelligence solutions for the media classified and recruitment industries. Using its proprietary On-Demand data mining, lead generation and CRM (Customer Relationship Management) integrated technologies, WANTED aggregates real-time data from thousands of online job sites, real estate and newspaper sites, as well as corporate websites on a daily basis. WANTED's data is used to optimize sales and to implement marketing strategies within the classified ad departments of major media organizations, as well as by staffing firms, advertising agencies and human resources specialists. For more information, please visit:http://www.wantedtech.com.
SOURCE The Conference Board NEW YORK,Jan. 4, 2012/PRNewswire/ --