Monster Employment Index Shows Increase in U.S. Online Job Demand for March

NEW YORK--(BUSINESS WIRE)--April 1, 2004--Monster Worldwide, Inc. (NASDAQ: MNST)

  • Real-time Monthly Analysis of Online Job Recruitment Reports Maintained Upward Trend through First Quarter of 2004 --
  • First Six Months of Index Data Indicates Greatest Increase in Employment Opportunities Within Wholesale Trade, Retail Trade, Manufacturing, Financial Services and Educational Services Industries --
  • Occupations with Greatest Six-month, Online Demand in Sales, Business & Financial Operations, Computer/IT Support, Management and Administrative Support --

Online job recruitment activity and related employment opportunities across the United States increased in March, continuing an upward trend for the first quarter of 2004, according to the initial findings released today of the Monster Employment Index, a broad and comprehensive monthly analysis of American online job demand conducted by Monster Worldwide, Inc. (NASDAQ: MNST), the parent company of the leading global online careers property, Monster(R).

The first six months of Monster Employment Index findings indicate the largest increase in job opportunities within the wholesale trade, retail trade, manufacturing, financial services and educational services industries. The Monster Index also suggests that the healthcare industry remains the largest industry in terms of the number of job opportunities.

During the last six months, the top five occupations in greatest demand included sales, business and financial operations, computer/IT support, general management and administrative support. With respect to regional demand for workers, the West/South Central region of the United States (Arkansas, Louisiana, Oklahoma, and Texas) saw the greatest rise from October through March, driven largely by Texas. On a national scale, the state of California offered the largest number of job opportunities during the same time period.

Based on a real-time review of millions of employer job opportunities culled from more than 1,500 Web sites, including a variety of corporate career sites, job boards and Monster, the Monster Employment Index presents a snapshot of employer online recruitment activity nationwide. The Monster Index counts job postings as an indicator of employer demand for employees or, in other words, job availability. Job postings are online advertisements placed by an employer looking to fill one or more vacant, or recently created, job positions.

With the first six months serving as a baseline, the Monster Employment Index findings for March indicate a continued increase in job availability. Specifically, the Monster Index shows a rise to 109 in March from 86 in December in terms of overall demand for workers. Specific results of the Monster Employment Index for the last six months are as follows:

October November December January February March ---------------------------------------------------------------------- 102 94 86 102 107 109 ----------------------------------------------------------------------

"By and large, job candidates with experience in either sales, business and financial operations, management, computer/IT support or administrative functions were the most sought-after by employers over the past six months. Across the country, all Census regions experienced growth in demand, but job seekers would have seen the greatest increase in employee demand within the West/South Central region," said Jeff Taylor, Founder and Chief Monster. "Moreover, industries actively pursuing employee talent during the same period included the wholesale and retail trade, manufacturing, financial services and educational services industries - all of which were hiring across a broad range of occupations."

Monster Worldwide established the Monster Employment Index to provide U.S. labor market watchers with a valuable snapshot of U.S. online recruitment activity, and going forward will share its data with various government agencies.

Since October 2003, the Monster Employment Index's team of researchers executed hundreds of thousands of online searches to compile data on millions of employer postings across the Web and across a broad range of industries and occupational categories. In addition to providing an analysis of the overall online demand for U.S. jobs, the Index offers an extensive range of sub-indices by industry, occupation and geographic region, including data on all 20 NAICS (North American Industry Classification System) industries, 23 occupational categories, all 50 states and the nine U.S. Census regions.

Six-month Results for Online Job Demand Growth of Top Five Industries ---------------------------------------------------------------------- The Monster Employment Index shows a general increase in online demand across almost all U.S. industries for employees. Specifically, the industries with the greatest six-month increase in job availability include: Oct. Nov. Dec. Jan. Feb. March Wholesale Trade 95 101 98 99 89 118 Retail Trade 91 86 100 101 109 112 Manufacturing 91 92 92 100 112 113 Finance/Insurance 85 100 96 97 111 112 Educational Services 94 85 103 103 101 115 Online Job Opportunities Up Across Occupational Categories ---------------------------------------------------------- For the last six months, the data from the Monster Employment Index shows that online job availability trended upwards across nearly all occupational categories, including: Oct. Nov. Dec. Jan. Feb. March Sales and Related 98 99 83 101 108 111 Business and Fin. Op. 97 97 88 95 109 115 Computer and Mathematical 87 92 96 114 105 106 Management 100 97 85 96 109 113 Office and Admin. Support 100 95 86 98 108 114 In addition to these leading categories, the Monster Index identified noteworthy increases in military, engineering/architecture, protective services, and education/training. All U.S. Census Regions Show Upward Six-month Trend in Job Opportunities ---------------------------------------------------------------------- In addition, data from the Monster Employment Index revealed an upward trend in all nine U.S. Census regions for job opportunities. The Index for key Census regions showed the following growth from October through March: Oct. Nov. Dec. Jan. Feb. March New England 93 101 88 94 112 112 Mid-Atlantic 102 102 84 93 108 111 East North Central 97 98 85 98 110 112 West North Central 101 100 81 103 106 109 South Atlantic 93 94 87 113 104 108 East South Central 99 98 84 98 108 113 West South Central 92 94 93 97 111 115 Mountain 97 97 85 100 105 115 Pacific 103 100 83 96 107 112

All of the data and findings in the Monster Employment Index have been validated for accuracy through independent, third party auditing conducted on a monthly basis by ARC Research, a Cranford, New Jersey-based provider of innovative click and brick market research solutions. The audit validates the accuracy of the online job recruitment activity measured for the last six months to within a margin of error of +/- 1.05%.

Mr. Taylor concluded, "As the leading online recruitment service provider, Monster has again broken new ground with the introduction of the Monster Employment Index. We expect the new Monster Employment Index will serve as an essential, multi-purpose tool for evaluating employer activity in the U.S. job market and will become increasingly indispensable to labor market watchers, especially given the continued migration of help wanted advertising from print to online."

Additional information on the Monster Employment Index for the past six months is available online at http://eIndex.monsterworldwide.com. The Monster Employment Index will report results monthly. Data for April will be released on May 6, 2004.

About Monster Worldwide

Founded in 1967, Monster Worldwide, Inc. is the parent company of Monster(R), the leading global online careers property. The company also owns TMP Worldwide, the world's largest Yellow Pages advertising agency and one of the world's largest Recruitment Advertising agency networks. TMP Worldwide is also a provider of direct marketing services. Headquartered in New York with approximately 4,300 employees in 19 countries, Monster Worldwide (NASDAQ: MNST) is a member of the S&P 500 Index. More information about Monster Worldwide is available at www.monsterworldwide.com.

Celebrating its 10-year anniversary, Monster is the leading global online careers property. A division of Monster Worldwide (NASDAQ: MNST), Monster works for everyone by connecting quality job seekers at all levels with leading employers across all industries. Founded in 1994 and headquartered in Maynard, Mass., Monster has 22 local language and content sites in 20 countries worldwide. Monster is the official online career management services sponsor of the 2004 U.S. Olympic Team. More information is available at www.monster.com or by calling 1-800-MONSTER. To learn more about Monster's industry-leading employer products and services, please visit http://recruiter.monster.com.

Special Note: Safe Harbor Statement Under the Private Securities Litigation Reform Act of 1995: Except for historical information contained herein, the statements made in this release constitute forward-looking statements within the meaning of Section 27A of the Securities Act of 1933 and Section 21E of the Securities Exchange Act of 1934. Such forward-looking statements involve certain risks and uncertainties, including statements regarding Monster Worldwide, Inc.'s strategic direction, prospects and future results. Certain factors, including factors outside of Monster Worldwide's control, may cause actual results to differ materially from those contained in the forward- looking statements, including economic and other conditions in the markets in which Monster Worldwide operates, risks associated with acquisitions, competition, seasonality and the other risks discussed in Monster Worldwide's Form 10-K and other filings made with the Securities and Exchange Commission, which discussions are incorporated in this release by reference.

CONTACT: Monster Worldwide, Inc.
David Rosa, 212-351-7067
david.rosa@monsterworldwide.com
or
Weber Shandwick
Christian Harper, 212-445-8135
charper@webershandwick.com

SOURCE: Monster Worldwide, Inc.