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Online job openings increased by 700 to 3,295,500 in July, according to data released today by the Conference Board.

Nationally, online job demand has been relatively flat over the last several months after sharp declines in December 2008 and January 2009.Nationally, there were over four unemployed looking for work for every advertised online opening, as the number of unemployed increased even as the number of advertised openings remained steady.

Gad Levanon
Senior Economist
The Conference Board

"Online job demand has held relatively steady at around 3.3 million advertised vacancies per month for the last six months," said Gad Levanon, Senior Economist at The Conference Board.

The monthly number of advertised vacancies in 2009 continues to average about 1.2 million below the monthly average of 4.5 million in 2008.

"While we are not seeing declines, the sluggish nature of labor demand is another indication that the path to recovery is likely to remain a long haul," said Levanon.

Looking at the overall trend in online job demand, the South showed the most positive improvement. In July, large states that continued to show modest increase include Virginia (4,700), Maryland (3,300), and North Carolina (1,400). Among the smaller states in the South, Oklahoma (500) and Alabama (400) increased modestly in July. Florida and Georgia, which have been relatively flat over the last few months, declined 4,400 and 3,700, respectively.