According to The Conference Board Help Wanted OnLine® (HWOL) Data Series, there has been a surge in the total number of online jobs that were advertised last month.
The report reveals that online labor demand increased by 86,800 in August to 4,974,900.
However, the gain last month was not enough to offset previous losses in the year and labor demand is the same as it was last December.
There are 6.6 million more unemployed workers than the number of advertised jobs, according to the July Supply/Demand rate.
June Shelp, Vice President of The Conference Board, said:
“This has not been a great year for labor demand. While the churn in the labor market is there (with almost 5 million jobs advertised each month), the end results are disappointing. Thus far in 2013, ten of the 22 major occupational categories are down, offsetting increases in the 12 other groups.”
The decrease in demand has mainly affected higher-wage professions, including:
- Engineering/architecture (-18,800)
- Computer/math (-35,000)
- Management (-11,800)
Although there has been an increase in demand for low-wage occupations:
- transportation/material moving (+36,200)
- food service workers (+18,800)
- building and grounds workers (+8,300)
- construction workers (+14,800)
Demand changes depending on state
Nearly all states experienced an increase in online labor demand last month, with the exception of Arizona, Delaware, South Dakota, and California.
In fact, California was the only state in which online labor demand actually decreased.
For the past nine months labor demand in the U.S. has been flat and 21 states have reported losses – offsetting the gains in other states.
States with the biggest decline in demand include Virginia and Maryland – both were effected by the federal budget sequester.
States with the biggest increase in demand were mainly in the South, such as Florida, North Carolina, and Texas.
More data is available here.