The Conference Board's index measuring job ads in U.S. newspapers in April was 19, down 10 points from April 2007. However, the level was unchanged from the prior month's reading.

"The economy is still weak and job losses will likely continue through the summer at a slow pace," said Ken Goldstein, labor economist at The Conference Board. "While it won't get much worse, it will be a while before things get better."

Help-wanted advertising fell in all nine U.S. Census regions in the last three months. The New England area posted the steepest decline, down 26.8%.