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Online job numbers flat month-over-month

March 02, 2009

The number of U.S. jobs posted online fell by only 6,600 in February, leaving the total number roughly flat at more than 3.3 million, according to The Conference Board's measure of online help-wanted ads released today. February's decrease is relatively small compared to declines of 506,000 in January and 507,000 in December.

"The good news is that labor demand was basically flat in February; the bad news is that we are still at the lowest level since this data series on online labor demand began in 2005," said Gad Levanon, senior economist at The Conference Board. "Advertised vacancies are a leading indicator of movements in employment several months from now. It's nice to see the labor demand hold steady for even one month, but the economy is still hurting from the weakened consumer demand (The Conference Board Consumer Confidence Index is at an all-time low) and continued crisis in the financial markets."