U.S. online job ads rose by 244,700 in November to a total of about 5.17 million, according to The Conference Board’s report on online jobs ads released today. However, November’s rise was not enough to push 2013 into healthy positive territory.

“The theme for labor demand this year is up-one-month and down-the-next,” said June Shelp, vice president of The Conference Board. “Eleven months into the year, we’ve seen six months up and five months down, with a net result of basically flat labor demand (a gain of fewer than 18,000 per month).”