Online advertised vacancies increased 13,500 to 5,496,500 in January, according to The Conference Board Help Wanted OnLine (HWOL) Data Series.
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The December Supply/Demand rate stands at 1.44 unemployed for each advertised vacancy with a total of 2.4 million more unemployed workers than the number of advertised vacancies. The number of unemployed was around 7.9 million in December.
“January showed a disappointing start for 2016,†said Gad Levanon, Managing Director of Macroeconomic and Labor Market Research at The Conference Board. “Labor demand levels remain very high but growth has continued to be slow since 2013.â€
In January, the Professional category saw large gains in Computer/Math (+29.0) and Healthcare (+24.2) with small gains in most other categories. The Services/Production category saw large losses in Sales (−20.5) and Food (−7.7) with a mixture of small gains/losses in the other categories.
In January, online labor demand was up in 23 States (see Table 3), and down in 27. Three regions experienced increases and one decreased.
The Midwest experienced an increase of 8,400 in January.
Illinois grew 5,500 to 214,900. Ohio declined 9,100 to 218,100. Wisconsin decreased 9,200 to 109,400. Michigan increased 7,100 to 203,400 and Minnesota increased 5,400 to 144,800.
Missouri grew 4,200 to 103,200. Among the smaller States in the region, Indiana rose 1,700 to 95,900, and Kansas declined 100 to 47,300. Iowa increased 1,500 to 69,200, Nebraska fell 1,500 to 38,700, and North Dakota increased 600 to 17,500 (Table 3).
The Northeast declined 18,200 in January. New York fell 10,600 to 314,300, the largest change in the region Pennsylvania decreased 3,200, to 231,600. Massachusetts decreased 3,200 to 164,600.
New Jersey grew 5,000 to 169,700. In the smaller States, Connecticut lost 4,800 to 71,100. Maine and Rhode Island fell 600 to 20,800 and 18,800. Vermont declined 1,100 to 10,600 and New Hampshire rose 800 to 28,300.
The West increased 15,100 in January. California increased 13,600 to 653,000. Colorado increased 1,700 to 134,100 and Arizona rose 3,000 to 107,400. Washington decreased 2,100 to 134,600.
Among the smaller States in theWest, Oregon declined 900 to 81,400 and Utah fell 2,400 to 61,600. Idaho gained 600 to 26,600, and New Mexico increased 800 to 31,400. Nevada increased 900 to 49,000 and Montana increased 400 to 22,400. Wyoming declined 400 to 9,500.
The South increased 4,300. Among the larger States in the region, Texas fell 11,300, to 374,000, the largest change in the region. Florida increase 1,900 to 287,700 and Georgia grew 1,800 to 162,000. North Carolina increased 700 to 149,000. Virginia increased 2,800 to 164,100.
Maryland grew 6,300 to 119,600. Among the smaller States, Alabama fell 1,200 to 54,500. Tennessee decreased 4,600 to 90,600; and Kentucky declined 100 to 55,600.
South Carolina fell 200 to 68,200 and Oklahoma increased 2,100 to 45,300. Louisiana fell 1,100 to 51,300 and Delaware decreased 400 to 17,200. ■