Feb. Help Wanted Index: 21, Down 1 from 22 (Prior Revised)
The Conference Board’s Help Wanted Index dropped 1 point in Feb. to 21, higher than expected. The Jan. Help Wanted Index was revised up 1 point to 22.
The Board’s head labor economist said, “More regions are experiencing economic distress and the impact is now evident in labor markets,” and added that in the last 3 months there has been “very little profit growth, and virtually no job growth.”
Over the past 3 months help-wanted ads have dropped in 7 of 9 geographic regions with the East South Central (-12.5%), Pacific (-11%), and New England (-9.3%) leading the drop.