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Online advertised vacancies fell 108,700 in August to 4,684,800, according to The Conference Board Help Wanted OnLine® (HWOL) Data Series released today. The combined July and August losses of 262,000 bring HWOL basically back in line with the May 2012 level. The Supply/Demand rate stands at 2.7 unemployed for every vacancy. In July, the number of unemployed was 8 million above the number of advertised vacancies, down from 10 million in the fall of 2011.
“So far, 2012 is shaping up to be a very slow-growth recovery for labor demand,” said June Shelp, Vice President at The Conference Board. “August is a month when we normally expect to see employers gear up for the fall, but this year, labor demand was disappointingly below seasonal expectations.” On the positive side, the U.S. has an average monthly increase of 45,000, and 45 of the 50 States are still showing gains for the year. (See section on Performance of States, page 4.)
Read the source report from The Conference Board.