US Online Job Market declines 0.6% in September 2012

The US online job market is drifting along. In September, employers nationwide posted 0.6% fewer job openings than in August. Year-over-year demand is down 3.6%. This further confirms that employers keep sitting on their hands waiting for reasons to be more optimistic. The US payroll is growing incrementally, an indication that employers hire only when desperate. They are looking for more signs of consumption.

The Indicators for consumer confidence keep shifting. The Conference Board reported an increase in consumer confidence in September after a drop in August. The Bloomberg Consumer Confidence Index shows steady increases over the past 7 weeks.

United States Job Openings (Online Postings) and Unemployment Rate
January 2007 – September 2012

The month of September started with a drop in labor demand of 2.1%. Employers set the tone during the first week. After that the job market remained basically unchanged.

United States Job Openings (Online Postings)
Weekly, 2011-2012

Note: A weekly update on the United States Job Openings (Online Postings) is available at www.skillproof.com every Tuesday.

Legend for week-over-week change of labor demand:

flat	0%
slow	0.1% – 0.5%
moderate	0.6% – 1.5%
fast	> 1.5%

Methodology: SkillPROOF surveys the inventories of job openings at direct employers. Job openings are counted and verified every 24 hours. All data sources have been verified for timely removal of filled or closed positions. No data from job boards or search firms is included.

For this report SkillPROOF estimates the counts of job openings. Estimates are calculated directly from SkillPROOF’s actual daily counts of job openings. As part of its calculations, SkillPROOF uses data and findings from reports of the Bureau of Labor Statistics (BLS) (http://www.bls.gov).

Comment by Henning Seip on October 3, 2012 at 1:06pm: ADP reports employment in the U.S. nonfarm private business sector increased by 162,000 from August to September, on a seasonally adjusted basis. The estimated gains in previous months were revised lower: The July increase was reduced by 17,000 to an increase of 156,000, while the August increase was reduced by 12,000 to an increase of 189,000. Source: www.adpemploymentreport.com

Comment by Henning Seip on October 5, 2012 at 8:35am: BLS: The unemployment rate decreased to 7.8 percent in September, and total nonfarm payroll employment rose by 114,000, the U.S. Bureau of Labor Statistics reported today. Employment increased in health care and in transportation and warehousing but changed little in most other major industries. www.bls.gov

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