Four job hunters for every online job posting in KC
By DIANE STAFFORD
The Kansas City Star
John Alvin
300 dpi John Alvin color illustration of computer mice connected to online, help-wanted sign. The Fresno Bee 2008
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There are nearly four job hunters for every job advertised online in the Kansas City area.
According to The Conference Board’s Help-Wanted data series, there were 24,700 regional jobs posted online in September, a month in which there were 93,900 workers searching for jobs in the metro area.
In October, job postings declined further, to 24,300, The Conference Board report said.
Compared with October 2008, there were about 10,000 fewer jobs advertised online for the area in October 2009.
The local trends dovetail with the national jobs picture. Total jobs advertised online declined by 83,200 to 3.28 million in October, the research group said.
“The September and October numbers are a further indication that, thus far, the recovery is weak,” said Gad Levanon, senior economist at the board. “The numbers indicate that employment is not likely to rise for the rest of this year.”
Nationally, there are 4.5 job hunters for every vacancy advertised online, compared with 3.8 in the Kansas City area.
No. 29 nationwide
Considering the area’s population, its unemployment rate and the number of advertised jobs, Kansas City ranks as the 29th most-difficult city nationally in which to find a job.
That figure comes from Juju.com, a job-search engine, which ranked Washington, D.C., and Baltimore, Md., as the most fertile grounds for job hunters.
The most difficult two cities for landing work?
Detroit and St. Louis, according to Juju.
A bit of bright
A slightly more positive jobs outlook comes from the Society for Human Resource Management, which says hiring expectations improved for November.
The group’s monthly survey of human resource professionals found that hiring will surpass layoffs this month in the manufacturing and service sectors.
“This is the first time since February 2008 that year-over-year hiring has increased in the service sector and the first time since August 2007 in manufacturing,” the association said.
But hiring “is still not widespread,” the November report said.
The report indicated a mismatch between available jobs and job hunters. Hirers in both the manufacturing and service sectors reported increasing recruiting difficulty — something that hadn’t occurred since January 2007.
The fact that this is an employers’ market was underscored by the society’s report on new-hire compensation. For the 13th straight month, the rate of increase for new-hire pay fell in October — down 3 percent in manufacturing and down 4.2 percent in service jobs, compared with a year ago.
Brighter yet
Another sign of job market improvement: The Conference Board’s Employment Trends Index has inched up a bit since September.
Employers will add work hours for existing workers before they add jobs, but the index suggests the worst is past.
To reach Diane Stafford, call 816-234-4359 or send e-mail to stafford@kcstar.com.
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