June newspaper help-wanted ads dip to 49-yr low
NEW YORK (Reuters) - The number of help-wanted ads in U.S. newspapers fell in June to a 49-year low, a private research group said on Thursday.
The Conference Board said its gauge measuring help-wanted ad volume was 26 in June, the lowest reading since July 1958. It was 32 a year earlier.
"There are signs that job advertising volume is edging a little lower, with very slight decreases in each of the past two months," said Ken Goldstein, labor economist at the Conference Board, in a statement.
"Business caution about near-term prospects for the economy, and perhaps for their own businesses, may lead to a little less hiring this autumn. Plus, the online business is mature enough in that this is where help wanted ads originate and may never appear in newspapers."
Total online job ads fell 2 percent in June, the Conference Board said. Goldstein suggested an already-tight labor market and worries about where the economy is headed contributed.
Newspaper help-wanted ads were down in all nine of the board's regions in the last three months, with the largest fall, 24.6 percent, in the Pacific, the Conference Board said.
The research firm surveys help-wanted ad volume at 51 newspapers across the country each month.
