The Conference Board Review (01/12)

Online advertised vacancies increased by 93,800 in December to 3,951,000, according to The Conference Board’s latest report. The December gains offset the declines of 76,000 in November and 14,000 in October. The supply/demand rate stands at 3.45, indicating there were 3.5 unemployed for every online advertised vacancy in November. “The December increase was a welcome lift for labor demand after a lackluster year,” says June Shelp, vice president at The Conference Board.

Demand for management was among the top occupation groups seeing increased demand, as online advertised vacancies increased by 15,100 to 381,200, which more than offset the previous 2-month decrease of 11,700. Labor demand for computer and mathematical Science workers rose 10,400 to 524,100.