Online help wanted ads down 13.2% in May

FYI...

NEW YORK, June 2 /PRNewswire/ -- In May 2008, there were 3,795,400
online advertised job vacancies, a decline of 579,000 or 13.2 percent from
the May 2007 level, according to The Conference Board Help-Wanted OnLine
Data Series(TM) (HWOL) released today. This is the third consecutive month
of declines for the nation as a whole (year-over-year). In May, there were
2.5 advertised vacancies posted online for every 100 persons in the labor
force, down from a high of 2.9 in May 2007.

"May shows a slight recovery from the large April decline, but overall
the number of online advertised vacancies has been on a downward trend for
the past several months. The demand for labor will likely be sluggish this
summer," said Gad Levanon, economist at The Conference Board. "This
lackluster job outlook is clearly a contributing factor in consumer
confidence shrinking to its lowest point in nearly two decades, as reported
by The Conference Board Consumer Confidence Survey."

THE NATIONAL - REGIONAL PICTURE
-- 2,743,700 new online ads posted in May
-- All nine Census Regions post over-the-year declines in labor demand

In May, 2,743,700 of the 3,795,400 unduplicated online advertised
vacancies were new ads that did not appear in April, while the remainder
are reposted ads from the previous month. In May, a month expected to show
a seasonal increase in labor demand, the number of total online advertised
vacancies increased by 145,500 or 4 percent while new ads rose by 152,200
or 6 percent from April. However, the vulnerable labor demand is clear in
the May year-over-year numbers where total ads fell 13.2 percent and new
ads fell 2.5 percent.

The monthly national increase in advertised vacancies between April and
May '08 reflected marginal increases in ads in all nine Census regions.
However, online advertised vacancies in each of the nine Census regions
were below last year's May levels.