Snapshot for November 19, 2003.

Further evidence of weak demand for new employees

The “help wanted” advertising index—which tracks the volume of job openings posted by employers in 51 major metropolitan newspapers—is a good indicator of current employment trends. The shaded vertical areas shown in the chart represent recessions since 1970.  As expected, throughout each recession the “help wanted” advertising index fell. The index sharply increased immediately for all subsequent recoveries except for two. The index continued to fluctuate on a downward trend for 11 months following the March 1991 recessionary trough, but thereafter steadily trended upward for 35 months. The index again fell sharply through the most current recession but has continued to trend downward since the 2001 recessionary trough that occurred 22 months ago. This index reflects the continued hesitation of employers to hire new workers during this prolonged weak recovery.

This week’s Snapshot was written by EPI Economist  Sylvia Allegretto.

Check out the  archive for past Economic Snapshots.