NEW YORK, Nov. 27 (UPI) -- The Conference Board said Wednesday its measure of help-wanted advertising, a key barometer of America's job market, fell in October, indicating the labor markets will not improve until economic growth picks up.
The group said its help-wanted index, which measures advertising volume in 51 major newspapers across the country, fell 3 points to 40 from 43 in September.
The Board noted the index was 46 one year ago.
Most economists on Wall Street were expecting the index to slip to 41 during the month.
In addition to providing insight on the general strength of the economy, the report gives a sense of how many jobs employers are trying to fill.
If that number is relatively high, it could mean there is a shortage of available workers and companies may have to offer higher wages to attract them. This leads to wage inflation, which is bad news for the stock and bond markets.
Federal Reserve chairman Alan Greenspan talks about it all the time and watches for it constantly.
Conference Board Economist Ken Goldstein said, "The recent softening in the labor market reflects a weakening economic recovery. The Board's Leading Economic Indicators began to signal an economic slowdown as early as June. The labor markets won't improve until economic growth picks up."
The Board said in the last three months, help-wanted advertising declined in all nine regions of the country.
The steepest declines occurred in the New England, where ads dropped 20 percent, the Middle Atlantic region, which posted an 18 percent in ads, the Mountain region, where ads fell 14.5 percent and in the West North Central region, where help-wanted advertising declined 11.9 percent.
