Hiring and the Oil Spill: Monster Employment Index June 2010

Tomorrow the government releases its monthly BLS employment numbers as a gauge of the US jobs market.  As we’ve done in the past, today we are releasing the findings of our Monster Employment Index(MEI).  Before I get into the hopeful numbers, it’s important to note that the MEI measures intent to hire based on online job demand culled from job postings from a representative selection of corporate career Web sites and job boards, including Monster.com. (For a large version of the illustration above, click here.)

The latest numbers measuring online hiring demand in June are encouraging.  The Index climbed 7 points in June from May and 24 points year over year making it the highest annual growth rate since September 2006. While we have a long way to go to restore jobs to where they were prior to the beginning of the recession, the 5 consecutive months of growth in the Index represents a renewed spirit of optimism.

3 interesting stories behind the numbers:

• Impact of the Gulf Oil Spill: Oil & gas extraction and support for mining (e.g., drilling contractors, field exploration contractors, etc) as a category saw a 52% increase year to year.   This is in part due to the fact that we’re starting to see jobs related to the oil spill clean-up and containment efforts in the Gulf.  These positions include hazardous material operators, engineers and environmental experts such as biologists who are going to help relocate some of the species that might be threatened by the oil spill.  Conversely, the most significant drop was in the category of agriculture and fishing, thus reinforcing the impact the spill is having on the coastal fishing industry.   These numbers provide support to news reports about the impact of the oil spill on the local economy.
• Communities hit hardest see marked improvement: Many of the markets where we are now seeing growth were the hardest hit during the recession (Detroit, Cincinnati, Portland, etc.).  A market like Cincinnati has a strong manufacturing base and is a hub of transportation to go across the country.  Portland, also a transportation hub, benefited from increased trade activity.  In Detroit we are seeing job creation around manufacturing, sales and healthcare as the region tries to adapt its economy from one driven by the automotive sector.
• Banking on a comeback: This week the New York Times reported an increase in hiring in the financial sector, specifically at some of Wall Street’s most prominent institutions.  We are seeing some positive signs within the Finance industry as well.  Year-on-year, there has been notable improvement in selection of online job opportunities. With a long road ahead, current improvements are mainly attributed to increase hiring for credit intermediation as well as among securities/brokerage (reporting growth upwards of 40% since the end of 2009).

Please check out the full report here for more information.

Related Posts

• The 100 Best Companies To Work For In America
• The Veterans Talent Index: Tracking the Veteran Talent Gap
• Discriminating Against the Unemployed: What Monster’s Thinking
• Trends and Differences in European Recruitment
• Monster Employment Index: 5 Job Market Trends Worth Watching