No Pickup in Online Jobs Listings

Growth watchers looking for signs of a rebound in the jobs market probably won’t see them in Thursday’s jobs data, and won’t find them online, either.

The Conference Board Help-Wanted OnLine Data Series, out this morning, reported the fourth consecutive month of year-over-year ad declines nationwide, with about 2.5 advertised vacancies posted for every 100 persons in the labor force in June, down from a high of 2.9 in May 2007.

In June 2008 there were 3.8 million online advertised job vacancies, about flat from May and down 11.2% from a year earlier, according to the data. Health-care practitioners remained the category with the most job posts. Austin, Texas, and Milwaukee led metro areas with the most job posts per worker.

“The volume of job advertising typically leads the employment numbers, and if there is any good news, it is that job losses are not likely to intensify in the months ahead,” said Gad Levanon, senior economist at the Conference Board, in a statement. “But I do not think we have reached the bottom,” he said.

The data measure first-time online job posts and jobs reposted from the previous month on more than 1,200 general and niche job boards, as compiled by Wanted Technologies Corp. The online data is not a direct measure of job vacancies and may change for reasons not related to overall job demand, the Conference Board cautions.

The soft listings dovetail with the weak expectations for Thursday jobs report (moved up from Friday due to the Independence Day holiday). Surveyed economists expect June nonfarm payrolls to drop 55,000, according to Dow Jones Newswires.