Demand for Boston finance jobs online down in May?
Posted on June 5, 2013
It appears job growth may once again be stagnating, which may hold true for Boston finance jobs. The Conference Board has reported that online labor demand was significantly down in May.
Online advertised vacancies fell 150,200, or 3 percent, in May to 4,827,600 in The Conference Board Help Wanted OnLine (HWOL) Data Series.
The Supply/Demand rate stands at 2.3 unemployed for each vacancy. In April there were 6.7 million more unemployed than the number of advertised vacancies, down from 11.9 million at the end of the recession in June 2009.
Many of the professional occupations (management, computers, business and finance) were weak in 2013. A few bright spots included gains for production and construction workers and a surprisingly large rise (up 29 percent so far in 2013) for workers in legal occupations.
In May, online labor demand dropped in 44 of the 50 States in the U.S. States that increased were Utah, Colorado, Montana, West Virginia, Oregon, and Mississippi. Over sixty percent (32 of the 50 States) are above last May’s levels.
The largest drop in online labor demand was in the South, down 57,800 in May with about one third of the decrease (19,300) in Texas, the largest State in the region. Florida, the second largest State, dropped 9,600. Virginia fell by 9,100; Georgia, by 7,400; North Carolina, by 6,200; and Maryland, by 5,000. Among the smaller States, Louisiana lost 2,300; Tennessee lost 2,100; Arkansas lost 400; and South Carolina lost 200 (Table 3).
Online labor demand in the West fell 32,600 in May (Table A), with California, the largest state, responsible for most of the decrease (29,500). Arizona lost 9,500 and Washington fell 4,500. Colorado posted a gain of 8,300 and reached its HWOL series high of 116,500. Among the smaller Western States, Nevada fell 900 in May while Oregon gained 800 and Utah rose 10,600 to its series high.
Online labor demand in the Midwest dropped 29,900 in May. Michigan posted the largest decrease, 6,900. Wisconsin fell by 3,100; Minnesota, by 1,800; Illinois, by 1,400; Missouri, by 1,200; and Ohio, by 900. Among the smaller Midwest States in May, Kansas fell by 3,300; Indiana, by 2,600; North Dakota, by 2,000.