About 3,990,600 online job postings appeared on leading Internet job boards in August, a drop of 163,900 from July, the Conference Board reported Wednesday.
“Following a very strong first quarter (plus-763,000), labor demand has fallen off in the second quarter and into the third quarter (minus-456,000), reducing the earlier gains,” said June Shelp, vice president at board.
“Overall, 2011 is still showing a 308,000 increase in labor demand, but the average monthly gain this year (38,000) is less than last year’s average monthly gain at this point (62,000). The slowdown in labor demand is not good news for job-seekers in a number of occupations. Labor demand has stalled over the last few months, both for construction workers, where there are almost 19 unemployed job-seekers for every advertised position, and for production workers, where there are 8 unemployed for every vacancy.”
