NEW YORK --The Help-Wanted Advertising Index was at 38 in July, unchanged from its June reading, The Conference Board reported today.
In July 2002, the index was at 44.
In the past three months, help-wanted advertising has risen in six of the nine regions the board surveys.
The regions with the largest increases were the Mountain (12.6%), Pacific (9.8%), and East South Central (6.6%) while West North Central (-1.8%), West South Central (-1.5%) and South Atlantic (-0.3%) had notable decreases.
"The labor market may finally be hitting bottom," said board Economist Ken Goldstein. "While layoffs remain large, they are no longer intensifying. Job advertising volume has stopped declining, although it remains at very low levels."
