Online Labor Demand Increased in December

December Gain Reverses October and November Declines

- In December, online labor demand increased in nearly every state and metro area

- Among occupation groups, computer, engineering and legal related ads experienced the fastest growth in the past 12 months

News provided by

The Conference Board

Jan 09, 2019, 10:00 ET

NEW YORK, Jan. 9, 2019 /PRNewswire/ -- The Conference Board Experimental Help Wanted OnLine (HWOL) Index increased in December. The Index now stands at 101.7 (July 2018=100), up from 99.3 in November.

"December's increase in the HWOL Index reversed the declines in October and November," said Gad Levanon, Chief Economist, North America, at The Conference Board. "As of mid-December, the negative developments in financial markets show no signs of significantly impacting recruiting activity. Online job ads grew during 2017 and the first half of 2018 but then started to slow up through December. This supports our forecast of a moderate slowdown in 2019 GDP growth. In periods of economic slowdown, the number of job ads tends to flatten or even moderately decline. HWOL trends suggest continued recruiting difficulties, with more people joining the labor force and faster wage growth."

The release schedule, national historic table and technical note are available on The Conference Board website, http://www.conference-board.org/data/helpwantedonline.cfm. The underlying data for The Conference Board HWOL is collected by CEB, Inc.

About The Conference Board
The Conference Board is the member-driven think tank that delivers trusted insights for what's ahead. Founded in 1916, we are a non-partisan, not-for-profit entity holding 501 (c) (3) tax-exempt status in the United States. www.conference-board.org

SOURCE The Conference Board