Online Labor Demand Edged Up 28,900 in April

Labor demand flat thus far in 2014

Companies are hiring IT workers.

Online advertised job vacancies were up 28,900 to 4,923,000 in April, according to The Conference Board Help Wanted OnLine (HWOL) Data Series, released today. The March Supply/Demand rate stands at 2.1 unemployed for each vacancy, with a total of 5.6 million more unemployed workers than the number of advertised vacancies.

“April’s modest rise follows a lackluster first quarter and leaves the job market basically flat for the year,” said June Shelp, vice president at The Conference Board. “Employers are replacing the workers that leave, as evidenced by the churn in the labor market — roughly 5 million advertised vacancies each month — but so far we haven’t seen demand for new workers that would help whittle down the unemployed.”

Using The Conference Board Supply/Demand rates as a broad indication of current employer demand, employers are finding it hard to fill positions in professional and high-paying occupations like computer workers and medical professionals. In these fields there are 3 to 5 vacancies for unemployed workers. In contrast, in the Service/Production occupations—construction, production/manufacturing work, and food service workers — there are 4 to 7 unemployed job-seekers competing for every opening.

Source: The Conference Board