Monster Index Up, College Job Outlook Stable

The Monster Employment Index edged up one point in September, as online recruitment activity increased slightly for the second consecutive month.

“The modest rise in the Monster Employment Index in September reflects the typical pick up seen in overall recruitment activity during the outset of the fall hiring season,” said Jesse Harriott, Vice President of Research at Monster Worldwide. “Although the Index is down 14% year-on-year, there are some bright spots, including increased online demand for occupations in public administration and healthcare.”

During September, online recruitment activity increased in 17 of the 28 U.S. metro areas monitored by the Index. Cincinnati showed the largest gain over the month, driven mainly by heightened demand for IT, healthcare and office/administrative occupations.

MP: It's not great labor market news, but it's somewhat positive. The September unemployment rate will be released tomorrow, and the market expectation is for it to remain at 6.1%.

More moderately good news comes from The National Association of Colleges and Employer's Job Outlook 2009 Fall Preview, which reports that:

The outlook for college hiring appears to be stable for the Class of 2009. Despite a sluggish economy, employers responding to NACE’s 2009 Job Outlook Fall Preview Survey report plans to hire 6.1% more new graduates in 2008-09 than they did in 2007-08. This is the sixth straight year that employers have projected an increase, although this year marks the first in six that the projected increase is not in the double digits (see chart below).