US June newspaper help-wanted ads dip to 49-yr low

NEW YORK, July 26 (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 since July 1958. It was 32 a year earlier.

"Already, 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."

Help-wanted ads were down in all nine of the U.S. regions in the last three months, with the largest fall in the Pacific, the Conference Board said. The ads in that region fell by 24.6 percent

The research firm surveys help-wanted ad volume at 51 newspapers across the country each month.