Report: Online labor demand up 208,800 in March

Washington, D.C. -- A report released Wednesday by The Conference Board said that online advertised vacancies rose 208,800 in March to 4,454,500.



According to The Conference Board Help Wanted OnLine Data Series, the March rise follows a large January increase and a small change in February, and brings the gain in labor demand in the first quarter of 2011 to over 600,000.



“Thus far in 2011, labor demand is looking strong,” said June Shelp, VP at The Conference Board. “In the first quarter of 2011, the monthly increase in advertised vacancies has averaged about 200,000/month. That’s good news after the overall anemic growth in labor demand over the last 11 months of 2010.”



In March, added Shelp, almost half of the advertised vacancies were new ads that were not there the previous month (new ads up 98,200).