Report: Online labor demand jumps 438,000 in January

New York City -A report released Monday by The Conference Board said that labor demand rose sharply in January after being relatively flat during the last half of 2010.

According to The Conference Board Help Wanted OnLine Data Series, online advertised vacancies rose 438,000 in January to 4,273,000. With the January increase, labor demand has risen 1.44 million since the series low point in April 2009. This increase now offsets approximately 80% of the 1.76 million drop in ad volume during the two-year downturn period from April 2007 through April 2009.

“The very strong seasonal gain to start 2011 is welcome news following seven months of essentially flat U.S. labor demand,” said June Shelp, VP, The Conference Board. “Last year, after a promising start (up about 350,000 in January 2010), labor demand fizzled, and the last half of 2010 was actually flat with no appreciable gains in job demand. Hopefully the January 2011 increase suggests that employers are seeing a pickup in their businesses and labor demand will continue to improve throughout this year.”