The number of new online job postings in metro Milwaukee was down 1,300 in June, a 10 percent drop from May, according to The Conference Board’s Help Wanted Online data series.
The area saw a 7.9 percent decrease in total online job postings, falling to 28,000. The drop was the largest among the 10 Midwestern cities included in the data.
Metro areas across the country saw a decline in job postings during the month as 49 of the 52 areas were down. The number of postings nationwide was down 226,700 in June to just under 4.7 million. The 4.6 percent decline followed a 5.5 percent decline in May.
Gad Levanon, The Conference Board chief economist, North America, said the slowdown in demand for labor has been widespread, affecting nearly all states and metro areas.
Chicago, Minneapolis-St. Paul, and Columbus, Ohio all saw drops in new job posting that were larger than Milwaukee’s. For total postings, Cincinnati had the second largest drop at 7.3 percent, followed by Indianapolis (6.5), Chicago and Columbus (6.4), Cleveland (5.9), St. Louis (4.5), Minneapolis-St. Paul (4.1) and Kansas City (3.3).
Milwaukee performed well within the Midwest on The Conference Board’s measure of labor supply and demand with 1.19 unemployed job seekers for each job posting. The data, which is current through May, put Milwaukee in fourth. Kansas City (1.17 unemployed/opening), Columbus (1.15) and Minneapolis-St. Paul (.72) were ahead of Milwaukee. The Minneapolis area was one of 10 regions nationally to have a reading under 1.
Chicago (1.96) and Cleveland (1.70) were at the bottom of the Midwest. There were seven areas with readings above 2, including Riverside, Calif. at 3.43 and Houston at 2.42.
As a state, Wisconsin saw new job postings drop by 3,600 to 45,400, a 7.9 percent drop. The decline was tied for the fifth largest in the Midwest, which was led by North Dakota at 10.1 percent and Illinois at 9.7 percent.
The state had a total of 97,000 online job postings, down 6.1 percent from 103,300. Illinois had the largest drop at 7.3 percent, followed by Indiana at 6.8 percent. Wisconsin was third.
The state had 1.28 people unemployed for each job posting in May, the sixth best supply/demand reading in the Midwest. South Dakota (0.63), North Dakota (0.85), Minnesota (0.86), and Nebraska (0.89) were all under 1. Illinois (2.26) and Indiana (2.04) were at the bottom of the Midwest with more than two people unemployed for each job posting.
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