Online Job Ads Increased 74,000 in December

- The December gain followed a November decrease of 115,300

- Most States showed small gains

- Most occupations showed gains over the month

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Jan 04, 2017, 10:00 ET

NEW YORK, Jan. 4, 2017 /PRNewswire/ -- Online advertised vacancies increased 74,000 to 4,797,000 in December, according to The Conference Board Help Wanted OnLine® (HWOL) Data Series, released today. The November Supply/Demand rate stands at 1.57 unemployed for each advertised vacancy with a total of 2.7 million more unemployed workers than the number of advertised vacancies. The number of unemployed was approximately 7.4 million in November.

"The HWOL series ended 2016 on a positive note, with a 74,000 increase," said Gad Levanon, Chief Economist, North America, at The Conference Board. "The number of online job ads has been fluctuating around a steady trend in the second half of 2016."

The Professional occupational category saw small losses in Management (-0.8), Business/Finance (-0.1), and gains in Computer/Math (8.7) and Health (10.6). The Services/Production occupational category saw gains in most occupational groups led by Sales (14.6) and Office/Admin (21.3).

For more information, including press release and technical notes: http://www.conference-board.org/data/helpwantedonline.cfm

About The Conference Board

The Conference Board is a global, independent business membership and research association working in the public interest. Our mission is unique: To provide the world's leading organizations with the practical knowledge they need to improve their performance and better serve society. The Conference Board is a non-advocacy, not-for-profit entity holding 501 (c) (3) tax-exempt status in the United States. www.conference-board.org

SOURCE The Conference Board