Online job advertising in Northeast Florida continues to rise.
The number of online job ads in March rose 1.5 percent over March 2011 and increased 7.7 percent from February.
Those numbers come from WorkSource, the First Coast Workforce Development Inc. office that covers Baker, Clay, Duval, Nassau, Putnam and St. Johns counties.
Year over year, the number of online advertised job vacancies rose by 317 positions to 21,542.
For the month, online job vacancy postings rose by 1,531.
“Sales, information technology and health care professions lead the job postings, a trend that has been in effect for several months in a row,” said Candace Moody, WorkSource vice president of communications.
“As unemployment goes down in the region, consumers will be spending more, and dining, entertainment and retail hiring reflects this trend. As workers get back to work and obtain health care benefits from employers, they also catch up on health care, both medically necessary and elective, that they had put off while out of work,” she said.
Moody said that higher employment rates and the increased consumer confidence among workers returning to a job will drive employment in other industries.
“Businesses are investing in IT to help improve internal productivity and build infrastructure for the growing trend of web-based services in almost every industry, including hospitality, dining and entertainment,” she said.
Since the official end of the recession in June 2009, online job demand in the WorkSource region has increased by 7,250 positions, state numbers show.
Labor demand, as measured by online advertised vacancies, bottomed out in January 2009. Since then, the region has seen an increase of 10,719 openings, reports WorkSource.
Job postings continue to remain most prevalent in health care, truck driving, customer service, computer systems and sales.
The largest year-over-year increases in online available ads as well as online new ads came in the occupations of first-line supervisors and managers of food preparation workers and servers; registered nurses; and network and computer systems administrators.
Also, the number of available online ads for loan officers almost doubled.
“Refinancing homes is probably the cause. Many homeowners are working to change the terms of their mortgages,” Moody said.
The monthly report comes from data collected by The Conference Board, a New York-based nonprofit source of economic information.
The Florida Department of Economic Opportunity makes the information available to the 24 Workforce regions in Florida.
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Top occupations in demand in March – available ads
The Florida Department of Economic Opportunity reported the number of available job ads online compiled by The Conference Board. Here are the numbers for the region served by WorkSource. The area consists of Baker, Clay, Duval, Nassau, Putnam and St. Johns counties.
| Top advertised occupations | Available online ads March 2012 | Available online ads March 2011 |
| Total ads | 21,542 | 21,225 |
| Registered nurses | 891 | 708 |
| Retail salespeople | 675 | 617 |
| Truck drivers, heavy and tractor-trailer | 561 | 475 |
| First-line supervisors/managers of retail sales workers | 558 | 502 |
| Computer systems analysts | 499 | 420 |
| Customer service representatives | 484 | 519 |
| Web developers | 479 | 563 |
| First-line supervisors/managers of food preparation and serving workers | 433 | 228 |
| Network and computer systems administrators | 344 | 235 |
| Sales representatives, wholesale and manufacturing, except technical and scientific products | 340 | 385 |
| Executive secretaries and administrative assistants | 268 | 268 |
| Sales representatives, services, all others | 266 | 270 |
| First-line supervisors/managers of office and administrative support workers | 266 | 205 |
| Computer support specialists | 259 | 283 |
| Loan officers | 249 | 134 |
Top occupations in demand in March – new ads
The Florida Department of Economic Opportunity reported the number of new job ads online compiled by The Conference Board. Here are the numbers for the region served by WorkSource. The area consists of Baker, Clay, Duval, Nassau, Putnam and St. Johns counties.
| Top advertised occupations | Available online ads March 2012 | Available online ads March 2011 |
| Total ads | 15,500 | 14,599 |
| Registered nurses | 601 | 423 |
| Retail salespeople | 508 | 404 |
| Truck drivers, heavy and tractor-trailer | 442 | 369 |
| First-line supervisors/managers of retail sales workers | 395 | 302 |
| First-line supervisors/managers of food preparation and serving workers | 371 | 153 |
| Customer service representatives | 339 | 338 |
| Web developers | 280 | 370 |
| Computer systems analysts | 270 | 227 |
| Network and computer systems administrators | 235 | 133 |
| Sales representatives, wholesale and manufacturing, except technical and scientific products | 228 | 265 |
| Sales representatives, services, all others | 204 | 178 |
| Executive secretaries and administrative assistants | 202 | 195 |
| First-line supervisors/managers of office and administrative support workers | 186 | 120 |
| Insurance sales agents | 181 | 171 |
| Computer support specialists | 175 | 190 |
The Conference Board, Help Wanted Online, prepared by the Florida Department of Economic
Opportunity, Labor Market Statistics Center