Online Job Demand Registers Strong Increase of 222,700 in April, The Conference Board Reports

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• Job demand has surged 870,000 for an increase of 27% over the past six months

• April increase in labor demand is broad across states, regions, and many occupations

• Demand for workers rises in numerous occupations including management, office help, and sales workers


Download the National Historical Table.

Online advertised vacancies rose 222,700 to 4,150,000 in April, according to The Conference Board Help Wanted OnLine™ (HWOL) Data Series released today. Over the past six months, labor demand has increased by 870,000, and this increase has been widely shared across the States and occupational categories.

"In a welcome sign for the job market, employers began the spring hiring season with a large 223,000 increase in demand for workers," said June Shelp, Vice President at The Conference Board. "Providing evidence of the strengthening economy, labor demand in April rose in practically every State and a wide variety of occupations from management positions to office workers and sales help. Improved job prospects also contributed to the April rise in The Conference Board Consumer Confidence Index® to its highest level since September 2008. The gap is beginning to narrow, but the number of unemployed continues to outnumber advertised vacancies by 3.82 to 1 (based on the latest March unemployment numbers)." (Chart 1).

REGIONAL AND STATE HIGHLIGHTS


• Broad gains in advertised vacancies across most States

• All large States now show positive trend growth in labor demand


Labor demand in The South rose 68,500, the largest regional increase, in April. Florida, which posted an increase of 21,900 in March, dipped 1,600 to 230,700 in April. Among the largest States in the region, Texas posted the largest gain, 23,100. Georgia rose 8,500 and North Carolina gained 6,400 while Virginia and Maryland were up 5,300 and 4,600 respectively. (Table A). Among the less populous states in the South, in April Kentucky increased by 5,200, Oklahoma increased by 4,900, and advertised vacancies in Louisiana increased by 4,200 (Table 3).

The Northeast region was up 64,500 in April. New York posted the largest increase, 23,600, while New Jersey rose 17,600. Massachusetts rose 6,900, and Pennsylvania gained 4,300. Among the smaller States, April job demand in Connecticut increased by 3,800, New Hampshire was up by 3,700, Rhode Island gained 2,500, Maine rose 2,300, and Vermont rose 900.

The Midwest gained 58,000 in April. Wisconsin experienced the largest gain, 10,500. Minnesota was next with a gain of 9,800. Ohio gained 8,700, Michigan gained 3,700, Missouri gained 3,400, and Illinois gained 1,300. Among the smaller States in the region, North Dakota increased 2,900 while Indiana was up 900 (Table 3).

In the West, April online advertised vacancies rose 44,700. Washington State posted the largest gain, 11,300. California was next with a gain of 9,800. Arizona rose by 2,100, and Colorado rose a modest 400 (Table A). Among the smaller States, Oregon was up 9,300, Nevada gained 3,300, Alaska rose 2,000, New Mexico rose 1,600, and Hawaii inched up 100 (Table 3).

The Supply/Demand rate for the U.S. in March (the latest month for which unemployment numbers are available) was at 3.82, indicating that there are slightly fewer than 4 unemployed workers for every online advertised vacancy. Among the States, the highest Supply/Demand rate is in Michigan (7.48), where there are almost 8 unemployed people for every advertised vacancy. Other states where there are over 5 unemployed for every advertised vacancy are Mississippi (7.26), Kentucky (5.90), South Carolina (5.40), Ohio (5.28), Indiana (5.18), California (5.12), Tennessee (5.10), and North Carolina (5.02). States with some of the lowest rates include Nebraska (1.59), North Dakota (1.63), and Alaska (1.70) (Table 4).

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


• Online demand for workers up across a broad range of occupations in April

• Management and Computer and Mathematical Science occupations lead April gains


Among the top 10 occupation groups with the largest numbers of online advertised vacancies, Management occupations experienced the largest April gain, up 36,700 to 548,600, and were in line with the monthly levels just prior to the financial crisis. Job demand in this occupational group dropped substantially in late 2008 with the financial crisis and lay flat for all of 2009 but picked up in the early months of 2010. The increase reflects postings for a wide variety of occupations including marketing managers and general and operations managers.

Computer and Mathematical Science occupations also rose substantially in April, up 32,500 to 545,400. The gain reflects in part increases in demand for computer systems analysts and computer software engineers (applications).

Advertised vacancies in Office and Administrative Support occupations were up 28,000 in April to 406,000. The increase largely reflected more advertised vacancies for customer service representatives. Advertised vacancies in this occupational category plummeted in late 2008 with the financial crisis, and, while they have risen in recent months, they are still below the monthly levels prior to the crisis. The number of unemployed in this occupational category continues to exceed the number of advertised vacancies, and in March there were over 4 unemployed (4.4) for every online advertised vacancy in this field.

Demand for Healthcare Practitioners and Technical occupations was up 3,300 to 630,000 in April and has risen to a level that is in line with the monthly demand of two years ago before the recession began. Labor demand for Healthcare Support occupations has been relatively strong throughout the recession and rose a modest 2,400 in April to 128,700, the highest monthly level since the HWOL series began in May 2005. Increases in this field reflect the continued strong demand for workers in occupations like occupational and physical therapists and nursing aids.

Healthcare is a broad field, and the relative tightness of the labor market varies substantially from the higher-paying practitioner and technical jobs to the lower-paying support occupations. In March, the latest month for which unemployment data are available, advertised vacancies for healthcare practitioners or technical occupations outnumbered the unemployed looking for work in this field by 4 to 1, and the average wage in these occupations is $32.64/hour. In sharp contrast, the average wage for healthcare support occupations is $12.66/hour and there were over 2 unemployed looking for work in the field for every advertised vacancy. (Table B and Table 7).

Supply/Demand rates indicated that, among the occupations with the largest number of online advertised vacancies, there is a significant difference in the number of unemployed seeking positions in these occupations. Among the top ten occupations advertised online, there were more vacancies than unemployed people seeking positions for Healthcare Practitioners (0.3) and Computer and Mathematical Science (0.4). On the other hand, in Sales and Related Occupations, there were close to four people seeking jobs in this field for every online advertised vacancy (3.5) and there were over four unemployed looking for work in Office and Administrative Support positions for every advertised opening (4.4).

METRO AREA HIGHLIGHTS


• Washington, D.C., Oklahoma City, and Baltimore have the lowest Supply/Demand rates

• Online advertised vacancies in largest metropolitan areas are above last year's levels


In April, all 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, the New York metro area was 51 percent above its April 2009 level, the Washington, D.C. metro area was 29 percent above its April 2009 level, and the Los Angeles metro area was 29 percent above last year's level (Table C & Table 5).

The number of unemployed exceeded the number of advertised vacancies in all of the 52 metro areas for which information is reported separately. Washington, D.C., Oklahoma City, and Baltimore were the locations with the most favorable supply/demand rates, where the number of unemployed looking for work was only slightly larger than the number of advertised vacancies (Table C). On the other hand, metro areas in which the respective number of unemployed is substantially above the number of online advertised vacancies include Riverside, CA, where there are nearly 11 unemployed people for every advertised vacancy (10.7), Detroit (8.8), Sacramento (6.1), and Miami (5.7). Supply/Demand rate data are for March 2010, the latest month for which unemployment data for local areas are available (Table C & Table 6).