The Conference Board's index measure job ads in U.S. newspapers rose one point in September and now stands at 24. The measure was 29 in September 2006. Help-wanted advertising fell in eight of the nine U.S. regions in the past three months. The largest declines occurred in the New England (down 12.0%), East North Central (down 10.5%) and South Atlantics (down 10.5%) regions.

"The latest numbers on the job market suggest it was slower this summer than earlier this year, but not losing more steam heading into the fall and winter months," said Ken Goldstein, labor economist at The Conference Board. "Some areas have cooled off, but there is no sign that regional labor market problems are in the early stages of coalescing into a national downtrend. Simply put, the labor market is slow, but not slowing."