Online Labor Demand Edged Down 18,900 in May

- The Supply/Demand rate for April fell below 2 (fewer than 2 unemployed for every vacancy) for the first time in over six years

- Labor demand remains flat in 2014 and extends last year's flat trend

- Demand falls in May for Sales, Management and Computer workers but is up in Transportation, Production, Construction and Installation

News provided by

The Conference Board

Jun 04, 2014, 10:00 ET

NEW YORK, June 4, 2014 /PRNewswire/ -- Online advertised vacancies were down 18,900 to 4,904,100 in May, according to The Conference Board Help Wanted OnLine® (HWOL) Data Series, released today. The April Supply/Demand rate stands at 1.98 unemployed for each vacancy with a total of 4.8 million more unemployed workers than the number of advertised vacancies. The number of unemployed was 9.8 million in April.

"Last month's Supply/Demand rate fell below 2 for the first time in just over six years," said June Shelp, Vice President at The Conference Board. "That is good news for many workers since the April Supply/Demand rate is a broad indication of current employer demand for labor. Unfortunately, it's not all good news since overall employer demand has been flat for over a year and we're seeing a drop in demand for high-paying jobs like computer workers and medical professionals." At the same time, in service/manufacturing occupations like production, building and grounds, food service, and construction, there were close to 4 or even more unemployed workers for every opening.

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

Follow The Conference Board
Twitter | Facebook | LinkedIn

SOURCE The Conference Board