While some of the decline in the number of first-time new ads in July is due to the slowdown during the July 4th holiday, the growth in the number of new ads has slowed over the last several months. This only adds to the mounting evidence that the U.S. labor market is slowing.
Gad Levanon, Economist, The Conference Board

New unduplicated online job ads across the U.S. decreased in July to 2,334,400. The July level was 101,900 job offerings - or 4 percent - below the previous month and followed an increase of 3 percent in June.

According to a report by The Conference Board, in July, there were 1.55 online job ads per 100 persons in the U.S. labor force, compared with 1.63 in June 2006, 1.57 in May and 1.51 in April. Over the year July 2005 to July 2006, new online job ads increased 19.2 percent.

"While some of the decline in the number of first-time new ads in July is due to the slowdown during the July 4th holiday, the growth in the number of new ads has slowed over the last several months," said Gad Levanon, Economist at The Conference Board. "This only adds to the mounting evidence that the U.S. labor market is slowing. Job openings and hires in the U.S. economy hit a plateau in recent months, while employment growth remains significantly below expectations for the fourth month in a row. Consumers are definitely feeling the job market tightening as revealed in The Conference Board Consumer Confidence Index."

Monthly online job ads reported in the Help-Wanted OnLine Data Series are the sum of the number of unduplicated new online job ads for each day of the calendar month. The series is a new series with data available monthly beginning in April 2005 and does not have sufficient history to allow for seasonal adjustments.

A Cross-Country Slowing
New online job ads per 100 persons in the labor force decreased in all nine census regions in July compared to the June level. The largest decreases for the month were in the New England and the West North Central regions, down 8 percent and 7 percent respectively. The smallest declines were in the Mountain region (Montana, Idaho, Wyoming, Nevada, Utah, Colorado, Arizona and New Mexico), and the South Atlantic region (Delaware, District of Columbia, Florida, Georgia, Maryland, North Carolina, South Carolina, Virginia and West Virginia), down 1 percent and 3 percent respectively. New England and the Pacific region lead the nation with the highest number of new online job ads per 100 persons (2.30), and the East South Central continues to have the lowest rate (0.97).

Despite this month's decline, the number of new job ads was up in all nine census regions over the period July 2006 to July 2005. The largest increase was in the West South Central region (Arkansas, Louisiana, Oklahoma, Texas), up 47 percent over the year. Other areas with substantial year-over-year gains in online job ads were the Mountain and Pacific regions (26 percent and 25 percent, respectively).

In contrast, online job ads in the East South Central region (Alabama, Kentucky, Mississippi and Tennessee) increased slightly by 4.9 percent between July 2005 and July 2006. Other areas rising slower than the national average include the Middle Atlantic region (New York, New Jersey and Pennsylvania), up 11.3 percent, the East North Central region (Illinois, Indiana, Ohio, Michigan and Wisconsin), up 10.8 percent, and the South Atlantic region (Delaware, District of Columbia, Florida, Georgia, Maryland, North Carolina, South Carolina, Virginia and West Virginia), up 13.8 percent. "This OnLine Series is still very new and in a developmental stage, making the regional year-over-year changes something that should be interpreted with caution," said Mr. Levanon.

Regional
In San Diego, the number of job ads for every 100 persons in the local labor force declined slightly to 3.8, down from its peak of 4.1 last month. This metro area has led the nation for the last four months.

Other metropolitan areas with a large number of ads per 100 persons in the labor force were concentrated on the east and west coasts and include San Francisco (3.45) Seattle-Tacoma (3.34), Boston (3.22) and San Jose (3.15).

In July, and in all the previous months in 2006, the Detroit metropolitan area, with less than one online job ad per 100 persons in the labor force (0.78), had the lowest number of ads adjusted for the labor force.