by Karen Brune Mathis, Managing Editor
Online job postings in Northeast Florida in April rose 1.9 percent over April 2011 and increased 8.2 percent from February, and a Jacksonville job expert expects job seekers to look for better opportunities.
The numbers come from WorkSource, the First Coast Workforce Development Inc. office that covers Baker, Clay, Duval, Nassau, Putnam and St. Johns counties.
The number of online advertised job vacancies in April 2012 was up by 436 jobs from April 2011 to 23,382 positions. Over the month, vacancies rose by 1,766 positions.
“No surprises here, just a continuation of the growth trend we’ve been observing for over six months,” said Candace Moody, WorkSource vice president of communications.
“Health care, IT and logistics are continuing to add jobs, and the service sector is hiring as well,” she said.
Moody said the number of retail jobs is growing, and the customer service sector, in both retail and business, could see more action.
Those “will see some significant churn over the next few months as workers feel confident enough to move from their current job to a better job,” Moody said.
“That trend, of moving up and out, will start to affect all industry sectors eventually. Some national surveys indicate that over 80 percent of workers will consider changing jobs once they are confident that the economy is actually in recovery,” she said.
Since the official end of the recession in June 2009, online job demand in the WorkSource region has increased by 9,093 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 12,570 openings, reports WorkSource.
Significant year-over-year increases came in ads for registered nurses, first-line supervisors in food service and retail sales, and computer systems analysts.
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.
356-2466
Top occupations in demand in April — 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.
| Available online ads April 2012 | Available online ads April 2011 | |
| Total ads | 23,382 | 22,946 |
| Registered nurses | 960 | 637 |
| Retail salespeople | 728 | 646 |
| First-line supervisors/managers of retail sales workers | 629 | 548 |
| Truck drivers, heavy and tractor-trailer | 626 | 625 |
| Customer service representatives | 567 | 645 |
| Web developers | 520 | 546 |
| Computer systems analysts | 515 | 404 |
| First-line supervisors/managers of food preparation and serving workers | 464 | 269 |
| Sales representatives, wholesale and manufacturing, except technical and scientific products | 404 | 430 |
| Network and computer systems administrators | 323 | 246 |
| First-line supervisors/managers of office and administrative support workers | 299 | 239 |
| Computer support specialists | 299 | 324 |
| Sales representatives, services, all others | 265 | 263 |
| Insurance sales agents | 263 | 251 |
| Executive secretaries and administrative assistants | 258 | 287 |
Source: The Conference Board, Help Wanted Online, prepared by the Florida Department of Economic Opportunity, Labor Market Statistics