- Following a strong June increase of 155,900, July showed a small loss
- States were mixed, with about half showing small gains
Online advertised vacancies showed a small drop of 15,500 to 5,044,600 in July, according to The Conference Board Help Wanted OnLine® (HWOL) Data Series, released today. The June Supply/Demand rate stands at 1.9 unemployed for each advertised vacancy with a total of 4.4 million more unemployed workers than the number of advertised vacancies. The number of unemployed was 9.5 million in June.
"Labor demand continues to be at historically high levels, with employer demand running at about 5 million ads each month," said Dr. Gad Levanon, Director of Macroeconomics and Labor Markets at The Conference Board. "While the average monthly increases have become more modest since early 2013, the overall trend has helped lower unemployment levels and reduced the U.S. Supply/Demand rate from a peak of 5.2 in June 2009 to 1.9 in June 2014."
In July, professional occupations showed a small gain in Computer and Math (13,400) and Community and Social Services (3,500) but a drop in Healthcare (-8,300). The Services/Production occupations showed losses with Office and Administration (-15,700) and Installation and Repair (-9,600).