Monster Online Ad Index for Pittsburgh Declines First Time Since January

Monster’s monthly index of online recruitment demand declined slightly for the first time since January for the Pittsburgh region. The index is used as a measure of recruitment activity and is leading indicator of job demand in a market. Declines this time of year are noted to be normal as retail and many other industries have not yet begun their fall recruitment campaigns and schools are still out for the summer. Year over year demand is up strongly, however, as our the Pittsburgh job market recovers from the heavy job losses by major employers like US Airways between 2002 and 2005. Here is the report:

Online Job Demand in Pittsburgh Eases Slightly in
July, According to the Monster Local Employment Index

PITTSBURGH, August 16, 2007 – The Monster Local Employment Index for
Pittsburgh dipped two points to a level of 115 in July, as gains in healthcare demand
were not enough to stem a general summer slowdown in online recruitment activity.
Nevertheless, Pittsburgh remains one of the strongest growth markets in the nation
when comparing year-over-year online recruitment trends, reflecting historically tight
labor market conditions and sustained print-to-online migration of the help-wanted
advertising market.

The latest Index findings demonstrate soaring recruitment demand in the healthcare
sector, which is struggling with supply shortages in certain key occupations such as
nursing. Both the healthcare practitioners and technical; and healthcare support
categories edged up last month, defying seasonal expectations. It is likely that these
recent upward trends in the healthcare categories reflect employer efforts to expand
the online visibility of long-standing, as opposed to newly created, specialized healthcare
openings in an already tight job market.
The business and professional service segment also maintained a generally strong
growth pace when accounting for seasonality. The market’s largest occupational
categories such as management; and business and financial operations edged down only
slightly from historical highs. Meanwhile, the computer and mathematical category
continued growing at a double digit annual pace, indicating high demand for IT
professionals. Still, food preparation and serving related remained the fastest growth
category year-over-year while military specific declined the most.
In all, two occupational categories rose in July, while 15 declined and two were
unchanged.