Online Recruiting Activity Heats Up in April

April’s rise to 125 from 109 in March continues the upward trend the Index has been experiencing during the first four months of 2004.   As 2004 has dawned, the growth was particularly large in the health care, finance & insurance, professional & technical, real estate, and retail trade industries , according to the measure of online job demand conducted by Monster Worldwide, Inc.

Examining April’s numbers, Monster found the occupational categories with the largest increase in job availability included community and social services, construction, arts and media, transportation, and buildings/ grounds maintenance.   Additionally, the greatest availability of jobs in last month existed within sales, business & financial operations, management and administrative support. The Index also reports an increase in seasonal blue-collar/hourly job categories, specifically within building/grounds maintenance, transportation/ material moving, construction, and farming/forestry.

Following the online industry recruiting trends, the Index found regional demand for workers increased across nearly every part of the United States, led by the Mountain region – Montana, Idaho, Wyoming, Colorado, Utah, Nevada, Arizona, and New Mexico.

With respect to individual states, Idaho, Montana, South Dakota, Rhode Island and Louisiana showed significant increases in demand over the past month.   California continued to lead the nation with the largest number of job opportunities last month.

The Monster Employment Index presents a snapshot of employer online recruitment activity nationwide. The Index counts job postings as an indicator of employer demand for employees or, in other words, job availability. Job postings are online advertisements placed by an employer looking to fill one or more vacant, or recently created, job positions.