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In August there were 4,104,800 online advertised job openings, an increase of 20,600 or 0.5 percent from the July level, according to the Conference Board help-Wanted Online Data Series.

August Online Job Vacancies See Little Change

Online advertised vacancies were up 12 percent over the year (August '06-August '07). There were 2.65 advertised vacancies online for every 100 persons in the labor force in August.

"The August numbers point to a continued softening in labor demand," said Gad Levanon, Economist at The Conference Board. "August is typically a month when businesses step up hiring. Although this online data series does not have enough history to seasonally adjust the monthly data, online job demand was virtually unchanged in August, which is below what one would expect.

"While there are occupations and industries, like healthcare, where demand for labor remains high, August was a month when The Conference Board's Consumer Confidence Index also indicated that Americans were feeling the softening of general business conditions and the labor market."

In August, 2,780,400 of the 4,104,800 unduplicated online advertised vacancies were new ads that did not appear in July and the remainder of the ads were reposted from the previous month. The 0.5 percent monthly increase in total ads reflected a 6 percent increase in new ads that offset the decline in reposted ads. Over the year (August '06 - August '07) new ads rose 14 percent.