About 3,861,000 online job postings appeared on leading Internet job boards in December, a 507,000 decrease from November’s revised level of 4,368,000, the Conference Board reported yesterday.
“The sharp December drop in online advertised vacancies is another indication that the economy has not reached bottom,” said Gad Levanon, the board’s senior economist. “The widespread nature of the decline in employers’ demand for workers — both across geographies and across occupations — does not bode well for an employment upturn in the first half of 2009.”
This was the first time the number of online job ads was below four million since the summer of 2006, according to the Conference Board, “reflecting widespread deterioration across the nation.”
Year-over-year, 780,000 fewer jobs were posted on the Internet in December.
