NEW YORK, Oct 31, 2002 (BUSINESS WIRE) -- The New York Times Job Market Confidence Index increased by 7.3 points to 104.4 in October from 97.1 in September.

The Confidence Index measures the overall perceptions about the job market held by employers and job seekers in the greater New York metropolitan area.

October's Current Conditions measure of the Confidence Index, which looks at respondents' specific perceptions of the current state of the job market, increased to 127.8 from 117.3 in September. The Expectations measure of the Index, which considers respondents' expectations concerning the future of the job market in six months, rose to 97.5 from 92.5 in September. For all of these results, February served as the base month, with values equal to 100.0.

"Some employers may be turning the corner - for the first time in six months more are thinking about hiring," said Carl Haacke, economist for the Job Market Confidence Index. "But some organizations are still facing tough times and are planning some layoffs."

Key findings for October include:

• The number of employers expected to hire for new positions in the next six months increased to 39 percent, from 34 percent in September.
• The percentage of employers who say that they have vacancies they are trying to fill increased to 43 percent, compared to 40 percent in September.
• The share of employers who expect to lay off employees increased to 13 percent, from 10 percent in September.

For the October results, 502 hiring managers and 340 job seekers were interviewed. Interviews are conducted via telephone with random samples of job seekers and hiring managers in the New York metropolitan area. The survey results for each month include responses obtained over the previous two-month period.

About Job Market

Job Market, the print and online recruitment services offering of The New York Times, provides employers and job seekers with comprehensive resources to streamline the recruitment process. Job Market appears in The New York Times every Sunday and is updated throughout the week at NYTimes.com, where job seekers can find job listings, career-related Times articles, exhaustive company research, a resume database and valuable career resources.

Through the newspaper's national audience, which includes 3.9 million weekday readers and 4.8 million Sunday readers as well as the 1.1 million readers who visit NYTimes.com every day, The New York Times Job Market reaches a marketplace of high-quality professionals actively seeking new job opportunities or considering career moves.

Each week, The New York Times Job Market issues research on industry trends and workplace practices affecting employers and job seekers in the metropolitan New York region. On a monthly basis, The New York Times Job Market releases its Job Market Confidence Index. The Index tracks current conditions for recruitment in the New York metro area as well as future outlook for the coming six months. Copies of Job Market research reports are available upon request or at NYTimes.com/jobmarket. New York-based Beta Research Corporation, via random telephone interviews, independently conducts The New York Times Job Market research.

NOTE: Job Market research is not affiliated with the editorial operations of The New York Times newspaper and does not reflect the views of the newspaper or its journalists. Source all references to Job Market research as: The New York Times Job Market.

About The New York Times Company

The New York Times Company (NYSE: NYT), a leading media company with 2001 revenues of $3.0 billion, publishes The New York Times, The Boston Globe and 16 other newspapers; owns eight network-affiliated television stations and two New York radio stations; and has more than 40 Web sites, including NYTimes.com and Boston.com. In 2002 the Company was ranked No. 1 in the publishing industry in Fortune's list of America's Most Admired Companies. Among all 530 companies on the list, the Company ranked No. 1 in quality of products/services and No. 1 in social responsibility. The Company's core purpose is to enhance society by creating, collecting and distributing high-quality news, information and entertainment.

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