Minneapolis, MN, January 7th, 2010 – The Department of Labor will release its jobs report for December tomorrow, and the data will undoubtedly show that the economy is a long way from healthy recovery mode. Economists are expecting that the U.S. economy actually added jobs during the month, marking the first monthly job gains since December of 2007. The Conference Board’s Consumer Confidence Index, which rose again in December, adds a faint glimmer of hope that this might be the case.

Not a chance.

If LinkUp’s data is any indication, the U.S. economy is still on life support and job growth remains a mirage. LinkUp, a job search engine that only indexes job listings that are found exclusively from over 20,000 corporate websites around the U.S., released its December jobs report today and the news is grim. Job listings on company websites in the LinkUp index dropped by 108,837 (24%) from November. Total job listings on company websites dropped by 142,641 (17%).

Job listing declines were widespread throughout the country, with 44 states (45 including Washington, D.C.) reporting fewer new job openings on company websites than the previous month and only 5 states reporting an increase. Total job listings dropped in 40 states (41 including Washington, D.C.), with only 8 states reporting an increase in December.

In terms of the best and worst performing states, Minnesota, New Jersey, and
Vermont showed the largest increases in new job listings (though the gains were still anemic), while California, Texas, and New York reported the largest declines in new job listings.

About LinkUp
LinkUp, the fastest growing job search engine on the web, only indexes job listings that are found on company websites. As a result of this unique data source, LinkUp’s job listing data includes no duplicate job listings, no classifieds from recruiters or headhunters, and no phishing or scam ads. Even more importantly, the jobs data is based on actual job openings that companies list on their own company website rather than the openings that companies are advertising for on other job boards or in newspapers.

LinkUp is owned and operated by JobDig, an employment-focused media, technology, and advertising company that has been serving employers and job seekers since 2001. With LinkUp, the company continues its history of innovation in the industry with completely unique paid search advertising solutions for employers and the highest quality job listings available on the web today for job seekers.