Online Labor Demand Remains Flat in February

Online Labor Demand Remains Flat in February

• February index unchanged, following a small decline in January
• Despite slight downward trend over the past year, HWOL Index remains at high level

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The Conference Board®-Burning Glass® Help Wanted OnLine™ (HWOL) Index was unchanged in February and remains at 101.4 (July 2018=100). The Index declined 1.0 percent (from December to January) and is down 4.9 percent from a year ago. 

Despite being on a slightly downward trend over the past year, the HWOL Index is still hovering at high levels. However, the COVID-19 outbreak will likely cause the number of online job ads to decline in the coming months.

The Help Wanted OnLine™ Index is produced in collaboration with Burning Glass Technologies, the global pioneer in real-time labor market data and analysis. This recent collaboration enhances the Help Wanted OnLine™ program by providing additional insights into important labor market trends.

Help Wanted OnLine™ (HWOL) Index: United States, seasonally adjusted, February 2020
[July 2018=100]

Sources: The Conference Board, Burning Glass Technologies, Bureau of Labor Statistics

© 2020 The Conference Board. All rights reserved.

PROGRAM NOTES

HWOL available on Haver Analytics

A number of the key HWOL Data Series are exclusively available on Haver Analytics. The available HWOL Data Series include the geographic and occupational series for levels and rates for both Total Ads and New Ads. In addition to the seasonally adjusted series, many of the unadjusted series are also available. The geographic detail includes: U.S., 9 Regions, 50 States, 52 MSAs (largest metro areas). The occupational detail includes: U.S. (2-digit SOC), States (1-digit SOC) and MSAs (1-digit SOC).

The Conference Board®-Burning Glass® Help Wanted OnLine™ (HWOL) Indexmeasures changes over time in advertised online job vacancies, reflecting monthly trends in employment opportunities across the US. The HWOL Data Series aggregates the total number of ads available by month from the HWOL universe of online job ads. Ads in the HWOL universe are collected in real-time from over 50,000 online job domains including traditional job boards, corporate boards, social media sites, and smaller job sites that serve niche markets and smaller geographic areas.

Like The Conference Board’s long-running Help Wanted Advertising Index of print ads (which was published for over 55 years and discontinued in July 2008), Help Wanted OnLine™ measures help wanted advertising, i.e. labor demand. The HWOL Data Series began in May 2005 and was revised in December 2018. With the December 2018 revision, The Conference Board released the HWOL Index, improving upon the HWOL Data Series’ ability to assess local labor market trends by reducing volatility and non-economic noise and improving correlation with local labor market conditions.

In 2019, the Help Wanted OnLine™ program partnered with Burning Glass Technologies, Inc., the new sole provider of online job ad data for HWOL. With the partnership, the HWOL Data Series has been revised historically to reflect a new universe and methodology of online job advertisements and therefore cannot be used in conjunction with the pre-revised HWOL Data Series. The HWOL Data Series begins in January 2015 and the HWOL Index begins in December 2005. HWOL Index values prior to 2020 are based on job ads collected by CEB, Inc.

Those using this data are urged to review the information on the database and methodology available on The Conference Board website and contact us with questions and comments. Background information and technical notes and discussion of revisions to the series are available at: http://www.conference-board.org/data/helpwantedonline.cfm.

About The Conference Board

The Conference Board is the member-driven think tank that delivers trusted insights for what’s ahead. Founded in 1916, we are a non-partisan, not-for-profit entity holding 501 (c) (3) tax-exempt status in the United States. www.conference-board.org.

About Burning Glass Technologies, Inc.

Burning Glass Technologiesdelivers job market analytics that empower employers, workers, and educators to make data-driven decisions. Powered by the world’s largest and most sophisticated database of labor market data and talent, Burning Glass Technologies analyzes hundreds of millions of job postings and real-life career transitions to provide insight into labor market patterns. Users of our products include corporate human resources departments, market analysts and employment services firms as well as the federal, state and local labor market analysts that use HWOL. For more information, please visit: www.burning-glass.com

Release Dates for 2020

April 15, 2020

May 13, 2020

June 10, 2020

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