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The Conference Board Help-Wanted Advertising Index -- a key measure of job offerings in major newspapers across America -- inched up one point in December. The Index now stands at 22. It was 33 one year ago.
The Conference Board is the global business research and membership organization.
In the last three months, help-wanted advertising declined in eight of the nine U.S. regions. Steepest declines occurred in the Pacific (-18.9%) and South Atlantic (-16.3%) regions. The East North Central region (2.5%) showed a modest increase.
Says Ken Goldstein, labor economist at The Conference Board: "The latest readings in print want-ad volume show a flat trend in the last three months of the year. The lack of stronger job prospects is resulting in very cautious and nervous consumer attitudes and spending patterns. Meanwhile, with corporate profits no longer rising strongly, business is turning cautious about taking on relatively expensive labor. While there are pockets of the nation in recession (Michigan, Indiana, New York, New Jersey, Silicon Valley to name a few), there is not yet a national recession. Nor will there be a recession unless the decline in labor market activity intensifies and spreads to more parts of the country. Data through December suggest that is not the case."
About The Help-Wanted Advertising Index
The Conference Board surveys help-wanted print advertising volume in 51 major newspapers across the country every month. Because ad volume has proven to be sensitive to labor market conditions, this measure provides a gauge of change in the local, regional and national supply of jobs.

  Latest seasonally-adjusted results follow:

                           December 07  November 07  October 07  December 06

  National Index               22           21           22          33
  Proportion of Labor
   Markets With rising
   Want-ad Volume              59%          37%          29%         80%
  Unemployment Rate           5.0%         4.7%         4.8%        4.4%

Source: The Conference Board
Web site: http://www.conference-board.org/