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Judging Jobs Data By Internet Postings?
from the how-useful dept
The government is going to release jobs data for December tomorrow, but Monster.com is trying to get a jump on things by saying that there were fewer job postings online last month. This does raise an interesting question. Do online job sites represent a good proxy for the overall job market? Even though many of the job boards tried to focus on luring blue collar workers to their sites, studies have shown that these efforts haven't been all that successful.
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And in other news, birds found to fly.
Fourteen years ago, I started looking for my first real job out of college in August. And while the seach took a few months ('91 recession), one of the things I noticed then was the decline of "help wanted" ads starting around mid-October, and basically drying up around the second week of November. Then, about the second week of January, things started picking up again.
Since then, I've realized that this is more the rule than exception. And the explaination is pretty clear, and twofold.
First, for many companies, it's fourth quarter. Meaning, of course, budgets are tightening until the new fiscal year. Hiring doesn't occur unless there's a very good reason.
Second, starting mid-November, the holidays kick in. Parties, vacations, the holidays themselves. No one is really in the interviewing/hiring mood. (Although, I've actually interviewed and been hired for my last two positions in early December...both were via the personal referal network.)
All of that said, is it any wonder that job postings were down?
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