In a non-governmental survey of 30 major metropolitan areas, the national numbers show significant growth in per capita on-line managerial job postings. But, the results vary by region with the Northwest showing the strongest numbers. "Even though the Southwest and Western areas of the country did not see a strong demand this month, the overall rise in recruitment activity is promising," says Tony Lee, publisher, CareerCast.com. "The Index shows the beginning of a hiring rebound, which is good news for those who have been unemployed for many months."
This survey uses online managerial job postings as a barometer for hiring activity throughout the economy. "The February Index is up 33.8 points from a year ago, and this month's hiring activity offers some relief to many parts of the country hurt by the recession," explains Jay Martin, COO, JobSerf. "The improvement in job growth is an early indicator of general economic recovery."
Coming in at 83.3, the February nationwide results reversed a decline reported in January, when the index fell by 3.1 points to 70.8 from 73.9 in December. The February nationwide gain was over 17% when compared to January. In January, the year over year gain was only 9.1 points, for February, the year over year gain jumped all the way up to 33.8 points.
But, not all major cities are created equal. The nation’s capitol, with an index of 138, remains the place with the highest per capita managerial job offerings—by a lot. Not only is Washington DC the highest per capita rated city, it even improved by 7 points in February. Boston also held onto the number 2 spot with an index of 100, up by 4 points from January.
Riverside remains at the other end of the scale—the lowest rated—by a lot—of all the cities in the survey. At an index of 14, Riverside has been holding down the bottom spot for a long time. There is, however a glimmer of good news for the Inland Empire—Riverside’s index actually improved one point in January, moving up from 13, to 14. Riverside still has only about one tenth the number of jobs per capita as top rated Washington DC.
In addition to Riverside, the survey covers the Bay Area, Los Angeles, and San Diego. The San Francisco Bay area is the strongest managerial job market in California and ranks third nationally, behind Washington DC and Boston. The Bay Area has had strong job gains in both January and February. For November and December 2009, San Francisco held steady at an index value of 70. But it improved by 6 points in January, when most areas reported lower numbers. Plus, the January gain was followed by a gain of 4 points in February.
For the California cities covered in the survey, San Diego, with an index of 44, is next down the list from the Bay Area. San Diego has a little more than half the per capita jobs as San Francisco, but it has managed small gains for the last three consecutive months.
Los Angeles, above only Riverside among the four California cities covered by the survey, is in the doldrums and not showing much improvement. LA’s February index was 32, up from 31 in January, but still below two months ago. The index for LA fell from 35 in November to a recent low of 31 in January. February was the first month since at least November when the index for LA did not fall.
The CareerCast.com/JobSerf Employment Index shows the change in managerial job openings posted online nationally. The Index reveals the differences in job listings by month, and includes trends and forecasts using proprietary employment data hand-counted by a team of researchers.
Click here to read the full report or for more information.
