Economy continues its moderate upward trend in labor demand with online vacancies up by 1.1 million since the official end of the recession (June 2009).  40 out of 50 States post gains in online job demand in October.  October demand up for healthcare practitioners and technical workers, management workers, and computer and mathematical science workers

Online advertised vacancies rose 113,700 in October to 4,409,800, following an increase of 59,900 in September, according to The Conference Board Help Wanted OnLine™ (HWOL) Data Series released today.  The nation’s Supply/Demand rate stood at 3.44 unemployed for every advertised vacancy in September (the last available unemployment data), a figure that is down from a peak of 4.73 in October 2009.  Nationally, there are 10.5 million more unemployed than advertised vacancies.

“In this slow economic recovery, the October rise is welcome news that the trend in labor demand continues to move in a positive direction, albeit at a very moderate pace,” said June Shelp, Vice President at The Conference Board. “The October increase reflected a moderate rise in a range of occupations and geographically across the nation. The slow but steady upward trend of the last seven months points to modest growth in employment through the end of 2010.”  Note: the current declines in employment reflect the closing out of the decennial Census.

REGIONAL AND STATE HIGHLIGHTS

Modest gains in October experienced in all 4 regions and all but 4 of the largest States

The West experienced the largest October gain, 47,800.  California was the largest contributor with an increase of 32,100. California’s gain was largely due to increases in demand for computer and math jobs and management jobs. Washington bounced back from last month’s loss and gained 7,400. Arizona and Colorado gained 4,700 and 4,100 respectively in October (Table A). Among the smaller States, Nevada gained 2,400 in October and experienced its third consecutive month of increases. Oregon rose 1,500, Hawaii gained 700, Alaska rose 500, and New Mexico gained 400).

The Midwest experienced the second largest gain for this month, 41,200.  In October, Ohio rose 11,500 to 151,600. Ohio has shown solid gains since December 2009. This month’s gains are largely due to increases in demand for healthcare practitioners and technical workers and computer and math jobs. Labor demand in Illinois rose 10,600, largely due to increases in demand for management jobs, computer and math jobs, and healthcare practitioners and technical workers. Michigan continues to show slow and steady improvement and rose 5,200 to 107,600. Wisconsin gained 4,100. Minnesota continues to grow and rose 3,600 this month. Missouri rose 2,100.  Among the States with smaller populations, North Dakota gained 500 while Indiana lost a slim 100.

The South increased by 19,900 in October, reflecting gains in three out of the six large States. Georgia had the most significant gain in the South with an increase of 11,900, largely reflecting increases in demand for management jobs and healthcare practitioners and technical workers. Texas increased by 8,500 largely due to job demand in computer and math occupations. Florida was about unchanged in October (+800). Virginia dropped 3,400, continuing its decline of the last three months. Maryland dropped for the third month and was down 2,800 in October. North Carolina fell 600. Among the less populous states in the South, advertised vacancies in Oklahoma increased by 2,900, Louisiana increased by 1,000, and Kentucky remained unchanged (Table 3).

The Northeast region gained 4,000 this month and offset the September decline of 4,600. Pennsylvania gained 3,300 in October after a September decline of 6,300. Massachusetts gained 1,200. New Jersey was unchanged (+ 100). New York fell by 2,900. Among the smaller States, Connecticut gained 500, Maine rose 400, and Vermont gained 200. New Hampshire dropped 1,100, and Rhode Island dropped 100.

The Supply/Demand rate for the U.S. in September (the latest month for which unemployment numbers are available) was at 3.44, indicating that there were more than 3 unemployed workers for every online advertised vacancy.  Nationally, there are 10.5 million more unemployed workers than advertised vacancies. The number of advertised vacancies exceeded the number of unemployed in only North Dakota, where the Supply/Demand rate was 0.92. States with the next lowest rates include South Dakota (1.27), Alaska (1.38), and Nebraska (1.40), where the Supply/Demand rates reflected the fact that there was just over one unemployed for every online advertised vacancy (Table 4). States with the highest Supply/Demand rates are Mississippi (6.22) and Michigan (6.11), where there are over 6 unemployed people for every advertised vacancy. Although still among the highest in the nation, Michigan’s S/D rate has improved significantly from the peak of 10.2 in October 2009, when there were just over 10 unemployed for every online advertised vacancy. Other states with high S/D rates are Indiana (5.06) and California (4.98).

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