Online Labor Demand Edged Up 15,200 in March

- First quarter 2015 showed strong growth resulting from large gains in both January and February

- Demand for oil and gas extraction workers plummets as oil prices fall

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Apr 01, 2015, 10:00 ET

NEW YORK, April 1, 2015 /PRNewswire/ -- Online advertised vacancies increased 15,200 to 5,466,400 in March, according to The Conference Board Help Wanted OnLine® (HWOL) Data Series, released today. The February Supply/Demand rate stands at 1.60 unemployed for each advertised vacancy, with a total of 3.3 million more unemployed workers than the number of advertised vacancies. The number of unemployed was 8.7 million in February.

"Online demand growth over the first quarter of 2015 at +349,000 has been the strongest quarterly growth in eight years," said Gad Levanon, Managing Director, Macroeconomic and Labor Market Research. "The growth has been well-balanced across the regions of the country and the major occupational groups, reflecting an overall healthy employer demand so far in 2015."

In March, the Professional category saw the most gains in Management (6,500), Business and Finance (4,200), Computer and Math (8,800) and Healthcare (5,200). The Services/Production category saw losses in Transportation (-30,000), Building and Grounds (-11,800) and Installation and Repair (-8,500).

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

Note: Table 6 and MSA unemployment data in Table B are omitted until BLS issues revised seasonally adjusted MSA unemployment data (see press release)

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SOURCE The Conference Board