Monster U.S. online jobs index up 5.4 pct in Feb

NEW YORK, March 8 (Reuters) - A gauge of U.S. online labor demand jumped in February to a record high, with the steepest gains in the utilities sector and transportation and warehousing, a report showed on Thursday.

Monster Worldwide, a global online careers and recruiting firm, said its Employment Index rose to 177 in February from 168 in January -- a jump of 5.4 percent -- and 157 a year earlier.

"The significant jump in February marks the Monster Employment Index's largest monthly increase on record, and indicates a sharp rebound in online job availability following January's weaker-than-usual results," said Steve Pogorzelski, group president of Monster Worldwide, Inc. MNST.O, parent company of Monster.

The February figure shows a surge in intended hiring that should be felt in March payrolls, Pogorzelski said.

He added that hiring growth should continue through 2007, though at a moderated pace when compared with the two previous years.

The report said white-collar occupations such as legal as well as business and financial operations show signs of growing demand ahead of the tax-filing season, as a cooling housing sector and manufacturing layoffs continue to weigh on several blue-collar occupations.

Overall, 19 of the 20 industries and 22 of the 23 occupational categories tracked by the Monster index increased their online recruitment activity in February.

Online job demand increased in the nine U.S. census regions during the past month, it said.

The Monster Employment index is a monthly analysis based on a review of more than 1,500 career sites, job boards and other Web sites. Its margin of error is plus or minus 1 percent.

This index comes before the U.S. nonagricultural payrolls measure, which is expected to show 100,000 such jobs were added to the U.S. economy in the latest month, and the unemployment figure, which is expected to hold steady at 4.6 percent, according to separate Reuters surveys. Both figures are due to be released on Friday.

((Reporting by Rodrigo Campos, editing by Gary Crosse; Reuters Messaging: rodrigo.campos.reuters.com@reuters.net; e-mail: rodrigo.campos@reuters.com; +1-646-223-6344)) Keywords: ECONOMY MONSTER EMPLOYMENT

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