Monster: U.S. and Europe Employment Headed in Different Directions

Econintersect:  The year-over-year change in employment in the U.S. produced 3% growth while there was 3% decline in Europe.  The low European number continued a 16 month decline.  In the U.S. the index has been in a slight up trend since April.

U.S. Index

Europe Index

Highlights for the U.S. report:

• Monster Employment Index U.S. grows three percent on annual basis in October, maintaining the growth pace recorded in September
• Among the metro markets tracked by the Index, Dallas records top growth, while Chicago and Los Angeles gain momentum
• Construction (up 17 percent) further accelerated from the 11 percent growth rate recorded in September, with increased opportunities for tradesmen in the construction occupations, installation/maintenance/repair as well as engineering and business operations positions
• Retail Trade (up 10 percent) escalated for the third consecutive month in-line with seasonal patterns ahead of the holiday shopping period
• Real Estate and Rental and Leasing (up nine percent) accelerated from the four percent growth rate recorded in September with increased opportunities across a diverse set of occupations, including sales, advertising/marketing and computer and financial specialists
• Transportation and Warehousing (up eight percent) decelerated in October in contrast to the double-digit growth recorded in September
• Public administration and Arts, Entertainment, and Recreation (down 11 percent) exhibited the steepest annual decline in the Index

Highlights for the European report:

• The Monster Employment Index Europe reports a third consecutive month of annual decline, recording a three percent decline in October, the sharpest rate of reduction seen since April 2010
• Germany continues to report decelerating trends but still records two percent annual growth followed by Belgium and the United Kingdom (both up one percent)
• Environment, architecture and urbanism sees its sixth month of consecutive growth and outpaces all industries while Transport, post and logistics reports the greatest decline
• Online recruitment across Education, training, library (up ten percent) remains strong in October, prolonging an eight month growth trend and ranking second among the industries
• Elementary occupations (down 15 percent) reports continued reductions in annual online recruitment and places bottom of all occupations measured by the Index
• Occupation Year-over-year Trends: Three of the nine occupational groups monitored by the Index in October exhibited positive growth trends.
• Opportunities for Craft and related trade workers (down eight percent) declined for a second consecutive month with demand shrinking across all regions compared to year-ago levels, with the exception of the UK
• Technicians and associate professionals (up two percent) noted some degree of annual growth in October and matched September’s rate of increase
• Elementary occupations (down 13 percent) remained at the bottom of the Index for a third consecutive month where this group has continued to see decline throughout the second half of this year

The Monster Employment Indexes are based on millions of job opening advertisements obtained from a large, representative selection of corporate career sites and job boards, including Monster. The Monster Employment Index’s underlying data is validated for accuracy by Research America, Inc. – an independent, third-party auditing firm – to ensure that measured national online job recruitment activity is within a margin of error of +/- 1.05%.

John Lounsbury

Sources:

• Monster Employment Index Rises 3% Year-over-Year (Monster Worldwide Press Release, BusinessWire, 02 November 2012)

• Monster Employment Index Europe Declines 3% Year-Over-Year (Monster Worldwide Press Release, BusinessWire, 02 November 2012)