October 1, 2014

  • September posts a decline, following strong August gain.
  • The STEM related categories continue to gain while other occupational groups show losses.

Online advertised vacancies declined 137,200 to 5,072,000 in September, according to The Conference Board Help Wanted OnLine (HWOL) Data Series released today.  The August Supply/Demand rate stands at 1.84 unemployed for each advertised vacancy with a total of 4.4 million more workers than the number of advertised vacancies.  The number of unemployed was 9.6 million in August.

“The September loss offsets most of August’s gain, resulting in only modest overall growth for 2014,” said Gad Levanon, Director of Macroeconomics and Labor Markets at The Conference Board.  “Following a strong second quarter, the third quarter has ended basically flat.”

In September, the STEM-related occupations showed strength in Computer and Math (9,600), Architecture and Engineering (3,400), and Healthcare Practitioners (12,200), while other categories showed losses, including Office and Administrative (-40,600), Sales (-32,500), and Transportation (-22,900).

Regional And State Highlights

  • All 20 of the largest states posted declines in September.
  • Among the 50 states, 45 experienced losses while 5 (Iowa, Utah, Maine, Alaska and Nebraska) gained.

Metro Area Highlights

  • In September, among the 20 largest metro areas, 2 (San Jose and San Francisco) gained and 18 declined.
  • Of the 52 metro areas for which Help Wanted OnLine provides monthly data, 8 gained advertisements, 43 lost, and 1 (Rochester) remained constant.

Occupational Highlights

  • In September, of the 10 largest online job categories, 3 posted gains and 7 posted declines.

Source: The Conference Board

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