The Monster Index rose 6.6% m/m during April following similar, strong gains during the prior two months. The increase raised the latest level 9.0% versus last year and 18.9% from its recent trough. Industry improvement has been widespread but most notable in the retail trade, professional & scientific and the health care industries. The real estate, construction and the finance & insurance industries have yet to improve meaningfully.

Additional detail by Census region indicates the greatest gains in the East North Central (16.8% y/y), West North Central (16.4% y/y) and East South Central (14.4% y/y) regions followed by the West South Central (10.4%) and South Atlantic regions (9.4% y/y). Moderate growth in the Mountain (5.4%) and Pacific (5.3%) regions was accompanied by a negligible 1.6% gain in New England and a 1.5% decline in the Mid-Atlantic region.

Based on a real-time review of millions of job opportunities culled from more than 1,500 Web sites, including a variety of corporate career sites, job boards and Monster, the Monster Employment Index presents a snapshot of employer online recruitment activity nationwide. The Monster Index counts job postings as an indicator of employer demand for employees or job availability. Job postings are online advertisements placed by an employer looking to fill one or more vacant, or recently created job positions.

The Monster figures date back to October, 2003 and are available in Haver's SURVEYS database.