The Conference Board's index measuring job ads in U.S. newspapers fell one point in November and now stands at 21. It was 29 a year ago.

Help-wanted advertising fell in all nine U.S. regions in the past three months. The largest declines happened in the Pacific (down 12.8%), Mountain (down 12.5%), and West North Central (down 12.4%) regions.

"The forward indicators of labor market activity offer little hope that the labor market will be spared," said Ken Goldstein, labor economist at The Conference Board. "The latest readings on print want-ad volume show some slowing in recent months, after slowly losing steam through the spring and summer."