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Online Job Demand Rises or Holds Steady in 15 of Top 28 U.S. Metro Markets in January, According to the Monster Local Employment Index
According to the latest findings of the Monster Local Employment Index, online job availability increased or held steady in more than half of the top 28 U.S. metropolitan areas in January, as online recruitment activity picked up in the month following December's brief, seasonal slowdown.
During the past month, 15 of the top 28 metro markets tracked by the Index either saw a solid-to-moderate rise in online job demand, or remained unchanged from their December levels. Online job availability increased in eight markets, with Denver, Detroit, Pittsburgh, St. Louis and Tampa all rising two points; and Orlando, Philadelphia and Seattle each edging up a point. Many of the markets that rose in January saw higher demand for legal; management; transportation and material moving; and installation, maintenance and repair occupations. Overall online job demand for workers in Cincinnati, Cleveland, Houston, Los Angeles, Miami, Minneapolis and Washington, D.C. remained essentially unchanged from December 2005.
In contrast, seven markets including Atlanta, Boston and Sacramento dipped slightly during January, edging down a point, while five others - Baltimore, Chicago, Dallas, New York City and San Diego - registered declines of two points each. After holding steady in November and December, Indianapolis showed the sharpest retraction last month, dropping three points due in part to lower overall demand for white-collar workers.
Since the inception of the Index in May of 2005, Phoenix continues to show the highest rate of growth in online job demand of the 28 markets, followed by Seattle, Denver and Minneapolis. Only Cleveland and Chicago remain down slightly from their May 2005 levels.
"The January findings of the Monster Local Employment Index show that eight major U.S. markets rebounded from a seasonal slowdown in recruitment in December, indicating increased online hiring activity due to higher demand for workers," said Steve Pogorzelski, Group President, International at Monster Worldwide. "The national Index findings for January were clearly consistent with other labor and economic indicators pointing to solid employment growth at the outset of 2006, so overall, this year's labor market appears to be off to another strong start."
During January, stronger online demand for workers in transportation and material moving was seen in all eight of the markets that rose. Online job availability in the category edged higher in Denver, Detroit, Orlando and St. Louis, while Houston continued to show the highest rate of increase since the inception of the Index, likely due to strong demand for regional moving and relocation services following Hurricane Katrina.
Nineteen metro areas showed increased online demand for management occupations last month, with six markets registering three-point surges: Miami, Philadelphia, Pittsburgh, Seattle, St. Louis and Tampa. The overall tightening in demand for white-collar professionals is consistent with other employment outlook surveys indicating that job seekers believe the job market in January 2006 is stronger than a year ago.
Online opportunities for installation, maintenance, and repair occupations also increased during the month, rising in nineteen metro areas, with Phoenix, Portland and Seattle all showing the greatest rate of increase since May 2005, likely due to the boom in residential construction in those markets during the past year. All Florida metro areas tracked by the Index also showed a surge in online opportunities for this category, which suggests a tightening in demand for Hurricane Wilma-related repair workers.
A majority of the 28 metro markets also saw higher demand for legal occupations in January, with all 28 showing increased online job availability for lawyers and related legal workers compared to six months ago. Los Angeles, Minneapolis, Pittsburgh and Portland have seen the fastest rate of growth for legal occupations, driven in part by strong demand for intellectual property attorneys specializing in patent law, as well as legal secretaries with experience in preparing patent applications.
In contrast, online job availability for construction workers remained generally soft across major U.S. cities, likely due in part to a decline in building and development activity typically seen during the winter season in much of the country. However, the fact that 18 of 28 markets saw lower online demand for construction and extraction occupations in January suggests that employment growth in the construction sector may be showing signs of a slowdown. The number of online job opportunities for workers in food processing and serving, as well as production occupations, also declined in a majority of the 28 markets tracked, suggesting weaker demand for workers in major metro area restaurant and manufacturing industries.
Overall results for the top 28 U.S. metro markets over the past nine months are as follows:
Market JAN06 DEC05 NOV05 OCT05 SEPT05 AUG05 JUL05 JUN05 MAY05 ---------------------------------------------------------------------- Atlanta 103 104 105 106 104 103 101 100 100 ---------------------------------------------------------------------- Baltimore 103 105 107 105 103 101 100 101 99 ---------------------------------------------------------------------- Boston 102 103 104 105 104 101 100 100 100 ---------------------------------------------------------------------- Chicago 100 102 104 104 102 100 99 99 101 ---------------------------------------------------------------------- Cincinnati 103 103 106 106 106 104 102 101 99 ---------------------------------------------------------------------- Cleveland 99 99 101 101 103 102 99 100 100 ---------------------------------------------------------------------- Dallas 102 104 104 103 100 100 99 100 100 ---------------------------------------------------------------------- Denver 105 103 108 107 106 104 101 102 98 ---------------------------------------------------------------------- Detroit 104 102 108 108 107 103 104 101 99 ---------------------------------------------------------------------- Houston 105 105 105 102 100 100 100 100 100 ---------------------------------------------------------------------- Indianapolis 101 104 104 104 101 100 98 99 101 ---------------------------------------------------------------------- Kansas City 100 101 103 103 102 101 101 100 100 ---------------------------------------------------------------------- Los Angeles 104 104 107 105 103 102 100 101 99 ---------------------------------------------------------------------- Miami 103 103 101 103 103 101 98 102 98 ---------------------------------------------------------------------- Minneapolis 106 106 109 108 107 106 102 101 99 ---------------------------------------------------------------------- New York City 100 102 104 103 102 102 99 100 100 ---------------------------------------------------------------------- Orlando 99 98 100 98 100 100 99 104 96 ---------------------------------------------------------------------- Philadelphia 105 104 104 104 102 101 100 101 99 ---------------------------------------------------------------------- Phoenix 110 111 112 109 106 104 101 100 100 ---------------------------------------------------------------------- Pittsburgh 106 104 107 106 104 103 101 100 100 ---------------------------------------------------------------------- Portland 105 106 106 107 104 103 100 100 100 ---------------------------------------------------------------------- Sacramento 102 103 105 104 101 101 99 101 99 ---------------------------------------------------------------------- San Diego 106 108 109 108 106 104 100 101 99 ---------------------------------------------------------------------- San Francisco 104 105 105 105 103 102 100 101 99 ---------------------------------------------------------------------- Seattle 108 107 108 108 107 106 102 101 99 ---------------------------------------------------------------------- St. Louis 104 102 104 104 102 101 100 100 100 ---------------------------------------------------------------------- Tampa 106 104 105 105 102 102 99 100 100 ---------------------------------------------------------------------- Washington, D.C. 102 102 104 105 103 102 102 101 99 ----------------------------------------------------------------------The February results of the Monster Local Employment Index will be released on March 29, 2006.
About the Monster Local Employment Index
Providing a broad, comprehensive monthly analysis of online job demand in the top 28 U.S. metro markets, the Monster Local Employment Index is an extension of the national Monster Employment Index, which is compiled each month by researchers at Monster Worldwide, Inc. (NASDAQ: MNST), parent company of the leading global online career and recruitment resource, Monster(R). Based on a real-time review of millions of employer job opportunities culled from more than 1,500 Web sites, including Monster(R), the Monster Local Employment Index presents a snapshot of employer online recruitment activity in the top 28 U.S. markets with the largest working populations.
The 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. All of the data and findings have been validated for accuracy through independent, monthly third party auditing conducted by ARC Research of Cranford, New Jersey. Individual Index reports containing data for each of the 28 metro markets, as well as additional information on occupational demand in each area, are now available at http://LocaleIndex.monsterworldwide.com.
About Monster Worldwide
Founded in 1967, Monster Worldwide, Inc. is the parent company of Monster(R), the leading global online careers and recruitment resource. The company also owns TMP Worldwide, one of the world's largest Recruitment Advertising agency networks. Headquartered in New York with approximately 4,800 employees in 26 countries, Monster Worldwide (NASDAQ: MNST) is a member of the S&P 500 Index and the NASDAQ-100 Index. More information about Monster Worldwide is available at www.monsterworldwide.com.
About Monster
Monster(R) is the leading global online careers and recruitment resource. A division of Monster Worldwide, Monster was founded in 1994 and is headquartered in Maynard, Massachusetts, USA. Monster has 26 local language and content sites in 24 countries worldwide. Monster is known for connecting quality job seekers at all levels with leading employers across all industries and offers employers innovative technology and superior services that give them more control over the recruiting process. 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: General Information: Monster Worldwide, Inc. David Rosa, 212-351-7067 david.rosa@monsterworldwide.com or Media Inquiries: Weber Shandwick Lauren McDonald, 617-520-7116 lmcdonald@webershandwick.com or Christian Harper, 212-445-8135 charper@webershandwick.com SOURCE: Monster Worldwide, Inc.
