Monster Employment Index Reports Online Job Demand Eases Slightly in July

Slight Decrease in Online Job Availability Likely Reflecting
Minor Seasonal Slowdown in Hiring

Online Demand Remains Strong in Professional Categories, Especially for Workers in Business & Financial Operations,
Legal, Education and Training Library

Overall demand for workers and related online job recruitment activity across the United States eased back slightly in July, yet remained near its high mark for the year, according to the Monster Employment Index. Marking the Index’s first month of decline since December 2003, the modest contraction in online job availability in July potentially reflects a seasonal slowdown in recruitment. Nevertheless, online job demand remained strong within a variety of industries and professional categories during the month.

The Monster Employment Index is a broad and comprehensive monthly analysis of U.S. online job demand based on data from more than 1,500 Web sites conducted by Monster Worldwide, Inc. (NASDAQ: MNST), the parent company of the leading global online careers property, Monster(R).

Industries that saw job availability scale back during the month of July and contributed to the two-point decline of the Monster Employment Index included educational services, accommodation & food services, transportation & warehousing, and mining. This marked the first time in five months that educational services experienced a decline in job availability.

Online job demand remained strong in many other industries during the month of July, with more than half of the industries tracked experiencing varying degrees of growth. Manufacturing, wholesale trade, information, agriculture & forestry and construction all edged higher. Professional, scientific & technical services registered a sharp upward trend for the second straight month, while finance & insurance continued a six-month growth trend, and management of companies & enterprises extended a five-month positive trend. Utilities, administrative/support, and healthcare all saw four months of modest sequential growth.

Occupational categories that saw the biggest declines in job availability during the month of July included personal care & service; food preparation & serving; building/grounds cleaning & maintenance; farming, fishing & forestry; life, physical & social science; arts, design, entertainment, sports & media; architecture and engineering. Online demand for sales occupations remained flat for the first time in seven months and online job availability for blue-collar/hourly job categories either declined or remained flat. Despite the declines many experienced in July, most occupational categories remained at levels way above where they were at the beginning of the year. The only exception to this was healthcare support (home health aides, nursing aides, dental assistants, massage therapists, etc.), which came in slightly below its December 2003 mark.

Other occupational categories continued to register growth in online job availability. Occupations showing seven months of sequential growth included business & financial operations, legal, and education, training & library. Demand for healthcare practitioners/technical staff also increased for the second straight month.

Given the strong six-month upward trend we’ve seen showing online job demand growth across 1,500 sites, we believe the slight easing back in July is reflective of a minor seasonal slowdown in hiring, said Jeff Taylor, Founder and Chief Monster. This kind of hiring deceleration is quite common during mid-summer months and often involves specific industries that typically rely on blue-collar/hourly positions. Examples of these industries include accommodation & food services as well as building/grounds cleaning and maintenance. It’s also important to note that a modest contraction like this is consistent with other recent economic data suggesting slower but continued labor market growth.

In terms of which companies were driving growth and who was pulling back, market leaders continued to drive the largest volume of postings, accounting for more than 80 percent of all the postings, and they were the only ones to show increases during July, continued Taylor. Medium-sized companies remained essentially flat, while small companies with less than 100 employees showed the sharpest decline. In terms of the bigger picture, the Index remains at its second-highest level, which is still far above the levels at which it began the year.

For the full results, visit