Here's some more "light at the end of the tunnel" news from the conference board:
The Conference Board Reports Online Job Demand Up 250,000 in May
In a positive sign, employers step up hiring demand in May
May marks the first increase in six months and largest in two years
States: Increases widespread across the nation with 43 out of 50 states posting gains
Occupations: Increases in Management, Computer/Math, Healthcare and Administrative Support
June 1, 2009…Online advertised vacancies rose 250,000 to 3,367,000 in May, according to The Conference Board Help-Wanted Online Data Series (HWOL)™ released today. The May gain was the first since the modest gain of 21,000 in October 2008, and the largest since October 2006. Even with this month’s increase, online advertised vacancies remained down 1,152,000, or 25 percent, since last year.
“The May bounce in labor demand is a very welcome sign,” said Gad Levanon, Senior Economist at The Conference Board. “April and May are both months when businesses typically step up their demand for workers. This year, while April was weak, by May employers were placing ads for workers in numerous locations across the nation. Over the last four months, there are now about a half dozen states where the drop in labor demand shows signs of leveling off and another handful of states show some very moderate increases. Labor demand typically leads the trend in both
employment and unemployment, so positive signals on labor demand are always important. Even with the current positive signs, the likely outlook is for unemployment to continue to rise and employment to fall at more modest levels throughout the summer. In April (the latest unemployment data until the May numbers are released this Friday), there were 10.6 million more unemployed workers than advertised vacancies.” (Chart 1).
[img_assist|nid=2928|title=Online Job Demand Chart 1|desc=|link=none|align=center|width=480|height=308]
You can read much more data here:
http://www.conference-board.org/economics/helpwantedOnline.cfm
