Online Advertised Job Vacancies Fall Sharply in April

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“Although one cannot infer that the occupation or geographic location of unemployed persons matches the occupation or geographic location of the vacancies, looking at the number of unemployed in relation to the number of advertised vacancies provides an indication of available job opportunities for the unemployed,” said Levanon. Using the latest unemployment data available from the U.S. Bureau of Labor Statistics (BLS) (March data) and computing the supply/demand ratio (unemployed/advertised vacancies), the states with the most favorable (e.g., lowest) supply/demand rates included Delaware (0.93), Maryland (0.95) and Arizona (1.02). This month, there were only two states where the number of advertised vacancies exceeded the number of unemployed (e.g., a supply/demand rate less than 1.0).  This is down from last month, when four states had a supply/demand rate less than 1.0, and well below the peak of 11 states with a supply/demand rate less than 1.0 in July 2007.  For the nation as a whole, the comparable supply/demand rate for March was 2.15, indicating that for every two unemployed people looking for work, there was only one online advertised vacancy.

States where the number of unemployed persons looking for work significantly exceeded the number of online advertised vacancies included Tennessee (3.06), Indiana (3.54), Kentucky (3.71), Michigan (4.93), and Mississippi (5.17).

Occupational Focus

“Many jobs in high demand are also, on average, among the highest paying occupations,” says Levanon. Health care practitioners (238,500) and Management (195,800) are the two occupations with the most number of ads posted online. According to the latest federal hourly wage data, wages average about $30 for healthcare practitioners and above $44 an hour for management.  Also in high demand are occupations in computer and mathematical (180,400), business and financial operations (173,000) and office and administrative support (170,500).

Matro Area Highlights

In April, 49 of the 52 metro areas for which data is reported separately posted a smaller number of advertised vacancies than last year. The deterioration in the job market in some of the nation’s largest metro areas is further reflected in comparing the number of unemployed to the number of advertised vacancies.  Since July 2007, the number of metro areas with a supply/demand rate of less than one has fallen from 23 areas to ten areas.  

The top metro areas in March as measured by most advertised vacancies per 100 persons in the local labor force included Austin (5.40), Milwaukee (5.34), San Jose (5.12), San Francisco (4.88) and Denver (4.64).

The Conference Board Help-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 boards and smaller job boards that serve niche markets and smaller geographic areas.