The number of local job listings posted on the Web dropped last month compared with October 2007, according to New York job sites.

Online job ads in New York fell to their lowest levels since January 2006, according to recent data from Monster Worldwide Inc.’s monthly Employment Index. New York is down 25 percent, more than the national average, which is down 20 percent, according to the index, which tracks online job demand across all industries based on real-time review of millions of corporate Web sites and job boards.

“The numbers are a leading indicator of what goes on in the economy,” said Hugo Sellert, head of economic research for Monster Worldwide. “We are in a recession and employers are cautious about hiring.”

As anticipated, finance was the hardest hit, while retail sales experienced a sharp drop in online activity in October, reflecting the drop in consumer confidence, Sellert said. He added that it also suggests that retailers are hiring very slowly for the upcoming holiday season. According to the index, health care and social work are holding steady.

Even tech companies, which have taken advantage of the Wall Street layoffs, posted fewer listings. On November 11, Dice.com, which lists tech-specific job openings in the U.S., said the number of New York-area job ads on its site last month fell 25 percent, to 8,080, compared with a year earlier.

Last month, the New York area lost its spot as the top metropolitan region based on the number of tech job postings to Washington, D.C./Baltimore, which had 8,233 job openings. New York had held the leadership position since 2005.

“I am not surprised to see New York slide,” said Tom Silver, senior vice president and chief marketing officer at Dice. “No doubt it was the high concentration of financial services companies and tech-related jobs [at those firms].”

Despite the dismal results, Silver recommends that job seekers post their résumés on job sites. He noted that employers may be recruiting even if they are not posting job openings on the Web.

“Good news is the recession has already started,” Sellert said. “We are optimistic about a turnaround next year.”

(For a related story, read "Unemployment Rises to 6.5 Percent, a 14-Year High.")

Filed by Amanda Fung of Crain’s New York Business, a sister publication of Workforce Management. To comment, e-mail editors@workforce com.

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